Citizen Accuses Collector In Goodman Council Meeting

A citizen called for the immediate resignation or impeachment of Goodman's tax collector, Meghan Sexson, during the city council meeting held Tuesday, July 21.

Daniel Davidson says that he took the initiative to submit a Sunshine request after hearing a rumor six weeks ago that the tax collector had stolen money from the city.

"A lot of people are concerned with how government is being ran and there are facts that are readily available," Davidson explained. "I wanted to find out the truth and make a difference."

Davidson shared documents from the Sunshine request with city council, stating that Sexson had submitted duplicate invoices that caused her to be overpaid and demanded that she immediately resign or the council begin the impeachment process.

"When you're in that position, you can't be making mistakes," Davidson said.

Sexson, who has been the city's tax collector for five years, was present at the meeting but was not given the opportunity to speak to the allegations that were made against her. After hearing Davidson's demands and viewing the documents gathered from the Sunshine request, a decision was made by the board to move forward with the impeachment process.

"The way it is being portrayed is that I double-billed the city and that I was hoping to not get caught, but that is the farthest from the truth," Sexson said. "The general public doesn't understand that I don't sign my own checks, the Clerk does and, if I was double paid, I wouldn't know about it until I was notified of it."

Sexson explained that a signed resolution was made between her, the city and the city attorney regarding the double payment to remedy a mistake but it was not an allegation of wrongdoing by either party. Davidson had a copy of this signed resolution on hand at the meeting.

"This happened in April and had already been resolved," Sexson said. "The double payment was withheld from my pay, the money went back into the city and I didn't pocket any extra."

At this time, Sexson is still working until she receives news otherwise from Goodman's city attorney.

"There's a lot of work to be done and I don't believe in abandoning citizens," she said. "I would hope people could remember that I love my town and would never do what I'm being accused of."