Cary town manager said pricey hotel was for staff. The bill tells another story.
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- Cary Town Manager Sean Stegall was placed on paid administrative leave in November
- The N&O obtained documents related to trips Stegall and staff took in 2023
- The town has not responded to multiple questions and public record requests.
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Cary under scrutiny
The town of Cary has been in the spotlight since late November, when Town Manager Sean Stegall was put on administrative leave without any explanation from the town. Stegall resigned Dec. 13, 2025, amid reports of questionable spending. Here is ongoing coverage from The News & Observer.
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Two years ago, Cary Town Manager Sean Stegall and six employees attended the International City/County Management Association’s annual conference in Austin, Texas.
Afterward, Stegall told the town he did not have a receipt for the hotel expense, so he submitted a lost-receipt form, obtained by The News & Observer, that said $3,400 was spent at the Hotel Van Zandt “for multiple staff.”
But other documents obtained by The N&O show the other staff members stayed at a hotel across the street from the convention center where the conference was held.
And a bill The N&O obtained from the hotel where Stegall stayed shows that exact amount billed to his room. His missing receipt report and the hotel bill both show a $3,419.35 total expense.
Stegall stayed in the Hotel Van Zandt for four nights at roughly $680 per night, the bill shows. The rest of the bill was for mini-bar purchases, taxes and fees and one night of overnight parking.
Other records The N&O obtained of the trip show Stegall paid roughly $150 each for the seven-mile trip to and from the airport through Blacklane, a “premium door-to-door chauffeur service,” according to its website. The receipts state “Sean Stegall” as the name on the “pick-up sign.” The town of Cary did not respond to questions asking whether other Cary employees on the trip used the service.
Town manager on administrative leave
Stegall was hired as Cary’s town manager in 2016 and is listed in state pension system records as making $366,054 last year. Last month, he was put on paid administrative leave without any public explanation.
Other expenses beyond travel costs are under scrutiny in Cary.
The N&O last week reported the town paid $37,397 for Mayor Pro Tem Lori Bush’s tuition for a master’s degree in Northwestern University’s Public Policy Program. Bush repaid the funds after a public records request revealed not all Town Council members knew about the payment.
At a Town Council meeting Tuesday, Mayor Harold Weinbrecht said he and other members were left out of decisions revealed by a recent public records request to the town. He would not say what those decisions were or how they were connected, if at all, to Stegall’s leave.
Among the documents obtained by The N&O are receipts, emails and registration details about the town officials attending the International City/County Management Association’s Annual Conference in Austin. The event was held at the Austin Convention Center from Sept. 30 to Oct. 4, 2023, with more than 5,500 attendees.
The documents include the procurement card lost-receipt form Stegall submitted for $3,419.35 on Oct. 6, 2023, for the Hotel Van Zandt, a four-star luxury hotel two blocks from the convention center in the Rainey Street entertainment district. Procurement cards are credit cards the town issues to employees.
“Don’t remember who booked,” is what’s typed in the “reason for missing receipt” field.
Cary Finance Director Kimberly Branch has not responded to phone calls or an email from The N&O asking how much employees like Stegall can charge on their town cards and how those purchases are reviewed.
‘I only know of one’
The Cary Town Council met for nearly three hours in closed session Tuesday night to, among other things, consider the “qualifications, competence, performance, character, fitness,” of unnamed public officers or employees. Members took no action when they returned.
At one point, several town employees briefly left the closed session. The N&O then asked Chief Strategy Officer Susan Moran how many Cary employees stayed at the hotel that Stegall stayed at.
“I only know of one person that would be; that would be Sean stayed in that hotel,” she said. “I don’t know the name of that hotel, but if you do a public records request, we’ll have somebody dig up those records, and we’ll find out what that is.”
The N&O asked for clarification since the lost procurement card receipt form stated it was for multiple people.
“I am only aware of Sean Stegall staying in a hotel,” Moran said.
Cary officials have not released numerous public records requested by The News & Observer, including those related to procurement cards.
Tuesday afternoon, The News & Observer sent multiple questions to Interim Town Manager Russ Overton and Moran asking:
- How many Cary employees stayed at Hotel Van Zandt and for how long?
- If any attempt was made to get a receipt from the hotel?
- If the town has any rules or guidelines dictating what must be done first before turning in a lost receipt?
- How should funds be spent while traveling or attending a conference?
- How often is Stegall allowed to turn in lost procurement card receipts.?
Tuesday’s questions followed earlier requests for information from The N&O. On Wednesday evening Carolyn Roman, Cary’s assistant director for Citizen Information & Outreach, said the town expects to “reconnect” about the requests early next week.
Stegall, meanwhile, has not responded to multiple phone calls and emails. No one answered when a reporter visited his home last week.
The N&O also sought to interview the six others on the trip.
Assistant Town Manager Scot Berry said Tuesday he could not recall where he stayed or what transportation he used to go to and from the hotel. Cary Police Lt. Ashlee Dean said Tuesday she could not talk when a reporter called about the trip, but would call back. She had not as of Wednesday afternoon.
Four others on the trip, one of whom is no longer with the town, could not be reached.
Emails obtained by The N&O show town employees discussing hotels, comparing costs and how close they were to the convention center. Hotel Van Zandt was not among the hotels mentioned in the emails.
“I just did some searching, and it appears the Hilton is a lot nicer and still has rooms available and the price is not much more,” said Danna Widmar, assistant town manager, who made the trip. “If there are not enough regular rooms, the executive level is only $50 more. I checked with (Assistant Town Manager Shelley Curran) and she’s willing to share on the Executive level with two queens. Maybe others could do the same.”
Allison Hutchinson, the town’s Director of Learning and Organizations Development, responded that she didn’t think there was a need to share rooms.
Sarah Acker, a business specialist in the town manager’s office, later wrote she had booked six rooms at the Hilton-Austin.
More than two weeks later, in a separate email, Stegall’s assistant wrote that Stegall had booked a different hotel for the ICMA trip and Acker could cancel his reservation at the Hilton-Austin.
Cary mayor attended conference
Emails also show that the mayor joined the trip as a consultant for WithersRavenel, a civil engineering firm based in Cary, and invited town attendees to two dinners hosted by the company.
“As a consultant for WR (WithersRavenel) I will also be attending,” Weinbrecht said. “My role will be to interact with as many attendees as possible. Part of the WR activities during our time at ICMA is to invite attendees to dinner to further our relationship.”
The town did not pay for his trip, he said in a brief interview before the Cary Town Council meeting Tuesday night, before being cut off by Moran.
“I don’t want us to do interviews before he sits down to do his work,” she said. “We have to catch up later. OK, because we tried to do that last time. It did not work.”
Weinbrecht has not responded to multiple calls and emails from The N&O. An N&O reporter was able to briefly speak to him before a meeting last week at which new council members were sworn in.
After the Tuesday meeting, Weinbrecht declined to set up a time to talk about his work at WithersRavenel and referred questions to the company’s marketing director. He did say, however, that the company’s marketing director asked him to send the dinner invitations to the town employees attending the conference because he knew them.
NC Reality Check is an N&O series holding those in power accountable and shining a light on public issues that affect the Triangle or North Carolina. Have a suggestion for a future story? Email realitycheck@newsobserver.com.
This story was originally published December 11, 2025 at 5:30 AM with the headline "Cary town manager said pricey hotel was for staff. The bill tells another story.."
