Belleair Beach reviews finances to quell concerns

Last September, the longtime mayor resigned after pleading guilty to a money laundering charge in his private business.

By EDIE GROSS

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 7, 2001

BELLEAIR BEACH -- Calling it a precautionary measure, Belleair Beach council members have agreed to hire an auditor to examine the city's books for the last two years of former Mayor Bill Atteberry's tenure.

Atteberry resigned in September after pleading guilty to a felony money laundering charge. The charge stemmed from Atteberry's actions as a private businessman, and council members on Monday night stopped short of accusing him of any wrongdoing as mayor.

But council members also said that some residents had urged them to have the city's finances checked out in light of Atteberry's troubles.

"We absolutely have no reason to think anything in the city was ever touched (by Atteberry)," said council member Chuck Pollick, who presides over the meetings. "But we're going to have everything reviewed."

Atteberry was accused of being the middle man in a scam that defrauded Young Living Essential Oils, a Utah company that makes aromatherapy, shower gels, massage oils and other products. Atteberry insisted that he had been duped by another man, who offered to get the company a loan but wanted a $240,000 deposit first. The company never got the loan or its deposit, which was shipped to a bank in Antigua.

After a jury deadlocked in an eight-week trial last summer, Atteberry decided to enter a plea rather than leave his fate to another jury. His sentencing is set for May.

In Belleair Beach, the mayor is the chief administrator, much the same way that a city manager is in other cities. Atteberry, who at 11 years was the longest-serving mayor in Pinellas County, advised the city on investments and handled money transfers among departments.

Any audit should pay special attention to those activities, said council member Warde "Skip" Chittenden. The city has an overall audit each year, but the last time it had anything in-depth was in 1998 after the previous city clerk left, Pollick said.

This new audit will cover the two years before Atteberry left office.

Pollick, Chittenden and council members Tom Ferrara and Frank Lombardi voted to have the city staff bring back estimates from several auditing firms. Pollick said he hoped it would not cost the city more than $5,000 to complete the audit.

Council members Elisabeth Schroeder and Larry Rudolph voted against the audit. Rudolph called Atteberry's legal situation "alarming," but he said digging through two years of city finances could waste money and accomplish little.

"Do we just move on or go backtracking for something when we don't know what we're looking for?" Rudolph said. "I would be in favor of let's just move on into the future."

Pollick said the audit could provide closure for the city by proving that its finances are sound. If any wrongdoing is discovered, the council can push for more research, he said.

"If anything pops up, we can always reconvene and go deeper," Pollick said.

- Information from Times files was used in this report.

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