The town of Mount Olive has identified two employees in the water department under investigation by the State Bureau of Investigation for possible misconduct. (Steve Herring|mountolivetribune.com)

The town of Mount Olive has identified two employees in the water department under investigation by the State Bureau of Investigation for possible misconduct. (Steve Herring|mountolivetribune.com)

Watia “Tia” Best, 37, and Rashonte Pettit, 31, have been identified as the two Mount Olive town employees under investigation by the State Bureau of Investigation for possible misconduct.

According to the town website, Best is water department office manager, and Pettit is a water clerk/billing specialist.

Best, whose annual salary was $47,243, and Pettit, whose annual salary was $36,920, were suspended without pay effective Thursday afternoon, Jan. 30.

Mount Olive Town Attorney Carroll Turner released the names to the Tribune Tuesday at noon, saying he believes the two employees have been with the town for two and a half to three years.

At this time, no additional information is being released about the case.

The town board’s Monday night agenda had included the board authorizing Turner and Interim Town Manager Glenn Holland to seek a forensic auditor to assist in the investigation as recommended by the SBI.

However, no action was taken, instead the meeting was recessed until 5 p.m. this Thursday at the town hall courtroom, 114 E. James St.

Following Monday’s meeting, Turner said the audit would not be town-wide, but would, instead, target a specific department.

According to the American Board of Forensic Accounting website: “A forensic audit is often different than a typical financial audit. A financial audit is generally a sampling activity that does not look at every transaction. Thus, the system can be exploited by someone, such as an executive, who knows how to ‘cook the books.”

Additionally, the website informed, “a forensic audit looks at the details of a specific aspect of the records, trying to determine why everything does not or should not add up. Thus, a forensic audit is much more time-consuming and can be significantly more expensive than a regular financial audit.”

During Monday’s session, Turner told Mayor Jerome Newton that if the board was going to recess the meeting until Thursday that the hiring could be discussed then.However, Turner added that the board needed to set the date and time to reconvene.

During the public comments portion of Monday’s meeting, Annette Kirby, a frequent speaker at town board meetings, said she had read the Tribune’s account of the investigation and hiring of a forensic accountant.

Kirby said the town needs to ensure that it assigns a forensic accountant that does not have a conflict of interest with any board member.

Her comment drew applause from the standing-room-only crowd packed into the courtroom.

“Another thing that I want to point out is that our board is under a state audit,” Kirby added. “There are certain people that are being monitored closely on that state audit. You know who you are. You do not need to be involved in selecting an auditor who is going to forensically evaluate this town.”

Kirby didn’t elaborate or name who she was talking about or offer any supporting evidence to her claim.