By Delayna Earley
The Island News
Former Beaufort County Administrator Eric Greenway broke his silence regarding his termination in July 2023 and the weeks preceding during an interview with a local podcaster on Thursday, March 7.
Greenway was the featured guest on Beaufort County’s House of Cards, which is a local podcast run by former County Council member Mike Covert, and during his interview he defends himself against the accusations that have been made against him by members of the community and members of County Council.
The former County Administrator was fired from his position in July 2023 in part to his hiring of Lisa Lynch to fill the role of Wellness Director.
Lynch was hired to the newly created position, in part, to help with the opioid crisis in Beaufort County.
Council cited Lynch’s hiring as one of the reasons for Greenway’s termination because they felt that Greenway hired her for personal reasons and not because she was the most qualified candidate for the position.
In the podcast, Greenway claimed that there is a double standard within Beaufort County government in which some people, such as former Beaufort Parks and Recreation director Shannon Loper, former Deputy Beaufort County Administrator Whitney Richland and himself, are fired for not following policy, but others are able to flout the rules and regulations, and no one seems to care.
“It seems like there’s been a lot of stuff pointed out about what I did wrong and how I didn’t follow proper procedures and things like that,” Greenway said on the YouTube airing of the podcast. “But then there are other things that are going on in the county as well that didn’t follow proper procedures and nothing is being said about it. No one’s been dismissed over that.”
Greenway specifically referred to the County Council’s decision to hire the new Daufuskie Island Ferry vendor, who he said does not even have the equipment to operate the system, yet “they made a big deal about [him] hiring ‘non-experienced’ people on the opioid contract.”
The last time that Greenway appeared in public regarding his termination was in September 2023, when his lawyer, Columbia-based attorney Paul Porter, made comments on Greenway’s behalf during a special called County Council meeting in which Greenway requested a hearing to make his case.
Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
