By Delayna Earley
The Island News
Beaufort County Council held a series of Special Called County Council meetings on Monday, April 29 and Tuesday, April 30, to “engage in discussion incident to employment, appointment or compensation of a person regulated by a public body,” which means that the council members are conducting interviews for the County Administrator position.
“As Chairman of the Beaufort County Council, I am pleased to confirm that interviews for the vacant Administrator position are underway,” County Council Chairman Joseph Passiment said in a statement to The Island News on Tuesday, April 30. “We are committed to a through and transparent selection process to ensure the best candidate is chosen to lead our county forward.”
The position was previously held by Eric Greenway, but Greenway was terminated in July 2023.
Since that time, the job has been held by Interim County Administrator John Robinson after he was appointed to take over the position when Greenway was terminated.
In February 2024, the county approved the hiring of a Greenville-based firm called Find Great People LLC for $20,000.
This firm was hired to help search for candidates for the County Administrator position.
While Robinson was praised by Passiment in the Feb. 5 County Council meeting for helping to the county navigate the “turmoil” that was left in the wake of Greenway’s termination “with cause,” the council decided to open their search to a wider pool of candidates – but encouraged him to apply for the position.
Beaufort Councilman York Glover told The Island News that they have had many really “excellent and qualified candidates” that they are working together as a council to eliminate potential candidates down to a select few that they plan on bringing before the public.
“We are in the middle of the process,” Glover said. “It’s a typical process. We start with a lot of candidates and whittle that down to a smaller number. That is where we are now. Then we will whittle that down to an even smaller number before we announce the finalists. We will spend most of the month of May whittling down to a smaller number of finalists.”
In hopes of allowing all council members the opportunity to participate in the interview process, Glover said they have not assigned a specific committee to lead the interview process, but instead are including all members of council.
He said that this has proven somewhat difficult with trying to organize the interviews in a way to accommodate everyone’s individual schedules.
Glover said that Passiment has set a hopeful deadline of July 1 as the start date for the new County Administrator, which will mark almost one year since Greenway’s termination.
“Whether we make that or not, is to be determined,” said Glover.
Delayna Earley, 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.
