Seabrook resident urges council to change audit firm, flags conflict concerns over EDC funding
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Subscribe
Summary
At the June 24 Seabrook City Council meeting, resident Joe McCall criticized the city’s repeated use of the same audit firm and raised potential conflicts of interest tied to Economic Development Corporation funding; he also asked the city to fix a delayed street punch list item and correct improperly displayed flags.
Joe McCall, a Seabrook resident, used the public‑comment period at the June 24 council meeting to press elected officials on three issues: continued use of the same audit firm, a possible conflict of interest involving Economic Development Corporation (EDC) funding, and several local maintenance items including Miramar Green and incorrectly displayed flags.
McCall said the audit contract appears to be effectively unchanged despite a company name change. “The name of the company changed, but it’s the same company,” McCall said. “Someone totally neutral to look into your books should never have that same company.”
McCall also warned the council to watch for conflicts tied to EDC funding: “If you have made a decision on a company getting funds, make sure that they didn’t support you or do something prior to that. It doesn’t look good. Plus, I guess it’s against the law too,” he said.
On local maintenance, McCall said a Miramar Green street repair he first raised in December remains on a punch list: “That’s 6, 7 months now. So I think that could get done.” He also asked staff to take down and rehang two flag displays that he said were incorrectly displayed with the point down; McCall said military veterans who contacted him were upset and that the flags should be corrected immediately.
The remarks came during the meeting’s public‑comment period; no formal council action was recorded in response to McCall’s remarks during the meeting.
Ending: McCall concluded by saying he would continue to pursue the audit‑firm and EDC concerns and encouraged the city to correct the flag displays and resolve the Miramar Green punch‑list item.