County councilman drains road money before turning office over to successor

Barry Medley

Cherokee County District 3, dotted with expensive split-level brick houses, might also be called home to petty politics.

Newly-elected councilman Quay Little is upset that former council member Barry Medley, who lost his seat to Little in the November general election, drained the remaining funds from the district’s gravel account, leaving Little with no road improvement money for the rest of the fiscal year.

Each council member receives $35,000 annually to maintain gravel roads and pay for other infrastructure needs.

Quay Little “I’m just irate. The money is gone,” Little said.

Little said Medley transferred about $33,000 to council member Charles Mathis’ gravel account on Dec. 29. That’s about the same time Medley was hired as the county’s latest building inspector, Little said.

“He’s a building inspector and then he signs all of our district money over,” Little said.

Little said he plans to discuss with Mathis returning the money to the District 3 gravel account.

“I want our district’s money back,” he said. “The bottom line is that I have no C-fund money and no gravel money until June.”

A message left for Medley at the county building department wasn’t returned Tuesday.

Little said he’s contemplating filing an ethics complaint but he doubts that will be necessary.

“I think once this exposure hits, there will be a lot of people filing a complaint,” he said.