WHITE LAKE — The White Lake Town Board on Tuesday approved two contracts between the town and Bladen County for the purchase of VIPER radios for the police and fire departments.

Mayor Goldston Womble told the board that, during the town’s 2009-10 annual audit, it was noted the town had a “deficiency of internal control” due to the fact the town did not have a signed a contract for the purchase of the Voice Interoperability Plan for Emergency Responders also known as VIPER.

Womble told the board the town is paying for the radios and the county has a contract in place to buy them in volume.

“The radios for the police department are being paid for with tax dollars and the fire department is being paid for with fire district taxes over and above the normal payment they make to us,” said Womble.

Councilman Tim Blount raised the question if the fact the signed contract was not in place was the fault of the county or an oversight on the part of the town.

“They had not gotten us the contract,” said Womble. “Elizabethtown did the same thing last night (Monday). It took them (the county) a while, but they did finally get them to us.”

The contracts were approved with a unanimous vote.

The board also dealt with the adoption of a fraud policy.

Womble told the board it was the recommendation of the town’s auditor, Bryon Scott, for the town to put in place a fraud policy which simply states “fraud and corruption will not be tolerated, that spells the consequences of fraud and corruption and to set out the framework to ensure a timely and appropriate response to instances of alleged fraud and corruption.”

“It’s a fairly standard resolution,” said Womble. “He (Scott) felt it would be good to have in place.”

The resolution was approved by a unanimous vote.