VIDALIA — The Vidalia city attorney said Thursday the board of aldermen plans to turn over to the proper authorities information concerning a former city employee who may have made what he termed “improper contractor payments.”

The announcement came approximately a month after the board voted to hire an independent auditor to investigate what was at the time described as a “potential discrepancy” in a city departments.

Most of the matter has been kept under wraps, and Thursday that remained largely true.

After Mayor Hyram Copeland and three aldermen — Tron McCoy, Jon Betts and Ricky Knapp — met in executive session for approximately 45 minutes to discuss a personnel matter, City Attorney Scott McLemore made a statement on behalf of the board.

McLemore said the board had met to discuss the city accountant — Ashley Anderson — and “unauthorized contractor payments” that had been made.

McLemore declined to discuss further what the alleged unauthorized payments were for or to whom they had been made, but confirmed the matter was tied to the independent auditor’s investigation.

Anderson had submitted her resignation prior to the meeting, and the board formally accepted it at the meeting, McLemore said.

Copeland said Thursday McLemore’s statement would be all the city administration had to release about the matter at this time.

When the board first moved to investigate the matter, the administration released a statement saying that the alleged discrepancy had been discovered through the city’s system of checks and balances.

Anderson could not be reached for comment Thursday afternoon.

Mayor-elect Buz Craft was in attendance at the meeting, but was not a part of the closed-door discussions.