The Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury released an investigative report Thursday, detailing ways the mayor of the city of Ardmore used his office for personal gain.
At Thursday's city council meeting, city aldermen addressed the mayor about unfair treatment and abuse of power.
"We got to get back to where it's transparent," said Alderman Ken Crosson.
The report from the Tennessee comptroller states Mayor Mike Magnusson instructed city employees to do work on private property.
"When we do something like this, we're spending the people's money — not our money out of our pocket, but the people's money," said Crosson.
The report said the mayor asked city employees to remove storage racks and tools from his personal barn and move truckloads of debris from a private property to a city-owned lot. All of the acts were done without the approval of the board or aldermen.
"It's depressing, because I've served for four mayors. We've never been under investigation in our lifetime, and this is a small community, and it hit home hard," said Crosson.
Magnusson addressed the report himself and told the community, "I've been under investigation for some activities about the Street Department."
Magnusson said he has been transparent with the investigators and said he didn't know he had been doing anything wrong.
"Mayor Magnusson, he's done a lot for Ardmore, but he's put us in a cloudy position," said Crosson.
The untimely report comes only five days before the mayor is up for re-election. The comptroller's office told Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é that political timing had nothing to do with the report, as the office publishes reports as soon as the findings are ready.
"Everything is going to work itself out, without any criminal activity or anything," said Magnusson.
The report was sent to the governor's office and the district attorney, but the mayor says the DA won't be pressing charges. Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é reached out to the DA for comment, but he was out of the office.
For a full copy of the investigative report, click
