Exclusive; Public Records Reveal Guest List for Taxpayer Funded Contractor’s Party
Beyond bad optics; The legal risks when contractors party with their government overseers.
This investigative report reveals how a Greensboro nonprofit, funded by $1.76 million in taxpayer money, hosted a private party for the very city officials who oversee its contract and the board members who control it, creating a web of potential legal violations, from misuse of public funds to ethics and tax law breaches.
Documents released by the City of Greensboro late on Friday, January 9, minimizing immediate public scrutiny, show publicly funded Downtown Greensboro, Inc. (DGI) invited dozens of city employees, including City Manager Trey Davis, former mayor Nancy Vaughan, department directors and economic development executives to its party. The event was held at DGI’s headquarters on December 17, 2025.
The Invitation; A “Jingle & Mingle”
The party was billed as a festive celebration. The digital invitation, was “Hosted by Downtown Greensboro, Inc.” The stated purpose: “TO CELEBRATE THE SEASON.”
DGI, contractually overseen by City officials, operates on a substantial stream of public money to perform specific downtown management services for the city.
Where the Public Money Goes;
DGI Contracted Service + Annual Taxpayer Funding
BID Management Services; $1,417,000.00
Ambassador Program; $195,000.00
Public Space Program; $100,000.00
Various Downtown Initiatives; $50,000.00
TOTAL; $1,762,000.00
The city’s taxpayers are overwhelmingly DGI’s primary funders, meaning the ‘nonprofit’ is a direct contractor of the City of Greensboro.
Diverting civic funds for a private party is like a team captain using the league’s equipment budget to throw a celebration for the starting lineup; it betrays the trust of the entire community to benefit a select group.
DGI hosted a private, invitation-only social event;
The invitation and internal emails provide a concrete example of illegal use of a city vendor’s public funding to entertain officials who approve, administer, influence and oversee its contract along with board members who control DGI CEO Zack Matheny’s employment and salary. Zack is currently under SBI investigation for doing much of the same things, yet our local news coverage is abominable;
Greensboro's News & Record Misleads the Public, Again
“Sitting council member Zack Matheny appears to be the subject of a State Bureau of Investigation probe.
Under Article V, Section 2(1) of the North Carolina Constitution, taxpayer funds must be used exclusively for public purposes. A private, invitation-only event for select insiders and government officials is a violation of this standard.
This was not a harmless gathering; It was a publicly funded contractor hosting private social entertainment for the very officials responsible for overseeing its funding, in apparent violation of state law and basic governance standards. The event was not a public meeting, training or programmatic activity;
Guest List Highlights;
Larry Davis, Greensboro Assistant City Manager; His current responsibilities directly oversee DGI’s funding streams and contractual compliance, administers the financial systems that process payments to DGI and supervises the Internal Audit department, the office that is supposed to investigate any irregularities or compliance issues with city contracts, which didn’t happen. Not only did Larry not have a problem with spending everyone else’s money, by participating, he took some of it.
Invitee and DGI board member City Manager Trey Davis appointed Eric Chilton as Strategic & Crisis Communications Manager, effective November 13, 2024. Once again, as an invitee, Davis didn’t stop illegal expenditures paid for with property tax checks we write each year.
Assistant City Manager Nasha McCray’s role places her in charge of key city departments that directly interact with and provide services to DGI, making her invitation and acceptance to the party a significant conflict of interest. McCray’s department shapes the regulatory and funding environment in which DGI operates. DGI manages downtown public spaces and events that heavily utilize city parks and facilities (e.g., LeBauer Park), which fall under McCray’s purview. DGI’s projects and initiatives must align with city planning goals and zoning regulations managed by McCray’s department.
Shawna Tillery is Greensboro’s Parks and Recreation planning manager.
Etc…
The Legal Fault Lines;
This scenario appears to place the event in direct conflict with North Carolina General Statute § 133-32, “Gifts from public contractors prohibited.”
The law is unambiguous. It states that no public official or employee who is “involved in developing, approving, or administering contracts on behalf of the unit of government” shall solicit or accept “anything of value” from a contractor that currently works for that government unit.
The statute’s intent is to prevent precisely this kind of fraternization; situations where a contractor’s generosity could create a sense of obligation or foster preferential treatment.
A violation of this statute is a Class 1 misdemeanor for both the giver and the recipients.
DGI Board Members Who Accepted the Invitation; Stu Nichols (DGI Chair), Craig Carlock (Carroll), Ginna Freyhaldenhoven + 1, Arthur Samet (Greensboro Contractor) and Chris Waldeck.
Zack and other board members who personally attended, meaning they accepted taxpayer-funded perks from a contract they oversee, may have violated state ethics laws, breached fiduciary duties, triggered federal tax penalties under IRC § 4958 for excess benefit transactions, and compromised the legal and financial integrity of both DGI and the City.
The use of public funds presents a substantial risk to its 501(c)(6) tax-exempt status under the IRS Private Benefit Doctrine. It’s a classic case of a nonprofit serving private interests rather than its exempt purpose.
The Full Roster; A separate “Guest List” from the invitation showed 120 total invitees. It was split between 53 “Guests attending” and 67 who had “Not replied.”
The rest of Greensboro’s taxpayers were excluded, even though they paid for it.
The guest list shows a mix of city officials and private citizens. The invitation was sent to at least 25 city officials and staff at their official greensboro-nc.gov email addresses. Recipients included Assistant Manager Andrea Harrell, Parks & Recreation Director Phil Fleischmann, Economic Development Manager Marshall Yandle, Economic Development Coordinator Reggie Delahanty and Guilford County Manager Victor Isler.
Noticeably absent from the list were any current City Council members or employees working for the City’s legal department, after confirming an SBI investigation into Zack Matheny and DGI;
The Greensboro Sports Foundation’s Richard Beard, who accepted Zack’s invitation, also doesn’t seem to have a problem spending our money on himself and his all male board, except for mayor Marikay Abuzuaiter;
Not the First Incident;
This is not the first time DGI’s spending has raised eyebrows. Previous investigative reports have highlighted the organization’s likely use of hundreds of thousands of funds for dinners, gifts and entertainment;
The party guest list, now a public record, provides a clear and documented example of the behavior the reports describe. It shows a social circuit where the lines between contractor, regulator and overseer are entirely erased.
This article represents the investigative analysis and opinion of Public Integrity Watch based on documents obtained from the City of Greensboro via public records request #32996, publicly available budgets, and official professional profiles; it alleges potential violations of law including the NC Constitution’s public purpose doctrine (Article V, Sec. 2), state statutes on contractor gifts (G.S. § 133-32) and misuse of funds, and IRS rules on private benefit, but constitutes journalism, not a formal legal charge, and all named individuals are presumed innocent unless proven otherwise in a court of law or by a designated ethics authority.