Genola residents gathered Wednesday night to hear what, if any, impact embezzlement charges against the former town clerk might have on the town's budget.

Hazelet said several boxes of information were examined by the attorney's office, and several town officials and residents were interviewed. The night of the discovery, Hazelet said all locks on the town hall were changed and Wright was suspended. Wright was also asked to resign, which she did Aug. 24.

Hazelet said several changes have been made to recover losses and prevent any fraud in the future. Although Wright is alleged to have taken approximately $240,000, Hazelet was optimistic about the town's budget.

"We anticipate that this can be remedied before the beginning of the next fiscal year," he said.

The town is also looking to replace its independent auditing firm, as the missing funds were not discovered in the mandatory yearly audits. In order to have more oversight in the books, Hazelet said the town now employs two clerks, one of which spends four hours a week reviewing the records. The town also purchased new software for more efficient record-keeping.

The monetary losses the city has incurred had a negative effect on the town's public safety building project and its cemetery project, and the town had to take out an additional loan to bridge the gap in funding. Hazelet said the town has some pieces of property it is trying to sell in order to pay off loans and finish projects.

Genola resident Sandy Greenwood asked the council what the plans were for current and future projects that the town may not have money for at this time. She questioned whether the town ought to think about waiting on projects until some funds have been recovered.

"Do we continue at the pace we're going and perhaps get more in debt, or do we take a step back?" she asked.

Although the town has lost money which could have gone to projects, Hazelet said most projects were completed before the embezzlement, and fees to residents will help pay for others, like the new cemetery.

Curtis Thomas said he was concerned about where secondary projects would fall on the priority list. Thomas said he has had a problem with a pipe in the town that leaked constantly last year and prevented him from using water for his land. Now that there is less money in the budget, Thomas said he was worried the broken pipe would still not be fixed, and other projects would be neglected as well.

Hazelet said the council does anticipate having funds to take care of the town's needs by the next fiscal year, and accommodations can be made to work on some projects sooner if needed. Hazelet said it is also important for the town to recover any lost money and is seeking to get the full amount returned.

"As a council, our No. 1 priority is restitution of the funds," he said.