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Perhaps city officials were expecting to be handcuffed and led away. Mayor Shirley Washington and Chandra Griffin, head of the city s Urban Renewal Agency, were called to Little Rock recently to answer for some financial irregularities identified in a state legislative audit. The Urban Renewal attorney had said the going could get rough as the two tried to explain what happened back in the Bluff. That turned out to be not the case, but we should not confuse the lack of harsh words with the seriousness of this little get-together.
Editor s note: In addition to the story below regarding Maurice Taggart, there is a letter to the editor from him on the editorial page as well as a column by reporter Eplunus Colvin on Taggart. This package also includes two links about Taggart, one containing recordings of conversations with him by Colvin and another containing files of various text conversations he had with The Commercial staff, including the editor, Byron Tate. Be advised, the phone calls and text strings contain words that some may find offensive.
The Pine Bluff Urban Renewal Agency met Tuesday coming off of several celebratory events including groundbreakings, project announcements and an audit hearing that they could now put behind them.
Officials with the Pine Bluff Urban Renewal Agency, which lost close to $700,000 in fraudulent payouts, will have to explain the negative audit findings associated with those transactions when their agency is called to a hearing on Oct. 13 with the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee.