In the last city meeting for St. Cloud, City Councilman Donald Shroyer made a motion to terminate City Manager Joe Helfenberger for spending more than $100,000 without the City Council'sconsent.

  • Finance director spent $117,914.55 without consent
  • Councilman motions to terminate city manager
  • Motion was seconded, but it did not pass
  • Finance director resigned Wednesday afternoon

"It bothers me a lot," Shroyer said.

Javier Gonzalez, the city's finance director, paid delinquent taxes on Steven's Plantation, a property the city owns. These were taxes that hadn’t been paid in three years.

The city's charter reads, in part: "Any payments made due to unauthorized expenditures are illegal, void, shall be cause for removal of any officer."

"We have governing rules that the city must follow," Shroyer said. "All directors of the city must follow those, and if corrective action is not taken for wrongdoing, then the city manager must be held accountable for his staff."

The reason Shroyer is questioning Helfenberger is because the finance director acts under him. The council only has the power to hire or fire the city attorney, city manager and lobbyists.

"Not an excuse, but the way it has been handled before this business so far by request of the city attorney with knowledge of the city manager, it has been paid before," Gonzalez said.

The motion for dismissal of the city manager received a second but ultimately did not pass. The city manager said he will start creating written reports weekly to have everyone on the same page.

Shroyer said past practices versus best practices are two different things and still stands by his motion.

"This is a big deal because thousands of dollars were spent without appropriations," he said. "Therefore, if I balance the budget and I pass the budget, where in the world did they find this money? How do you spend money that doesn't exist on a zero balance budget?"

News 13 reached out to the city manager, and while he would not give us an on-camera interview, his office sent us a statement: "As the City Manager, Mr. Helfenberger serves at the pleasure of City Council."

Gonzalez officially resigned from office Wednesday afternoon.