By Delayna Earley
The Island News
Continuing with County Council’s promise for transparency going forward following a change in leadership, Council made the decision to unanimously vote to cooperate with a subpoena from the South Carolina Ethics Commission.
Following the executive session during their regularly scheduled meeting on Jan. 13, Councilman David Bartholomew made a motion to waive attorney-client privilege to release emails between council members, county administration and staff members that were sent between June 2021 and August 2023 pertaining to legal advice that was received from county attorneys as well as outside council.
Council members unanimously voted to pass the motion.
Current Council Chair Alice Howard, after she was voted into the role 6-5 over former Chair Joe Passiment in January, told The Island News that the Council is committed to cooperating and maintaining transparency going forward in hopes of earning back and keeping the trust of Beaufort County constituents.
County spokesperson Hannah Nichols said that initially the county opted to retain its attorney-client privilege as it related to matters that were under investigation, but when the second request was made, administration brought the subpoena to council to allow them to decide if they wanted to waive privilege or not.
While the details of the subpoena were not disclosed, there have been at least nine separate complaints filed alleging unethical behavior by Beaufort County employees since early 2023.
So far, only one, former Beaufort Parks and Recreation Director Shannon Loper, has been cited for an ethics violation.
In total, there were three confirmed investigations into the actions of Loper, two into the actions of County Administrator Eric Greenway, one into the actions of former Capital Improvement Projects Director Eric Larson, one into the actions of former Deputy Administrator Whitney Richland, one into the actions of Special Assistant to the County Administrator Hank Amundson and one into the actions of Assistant County Administrator for Infrastructure Jared Fralix.
The S.C. Ethics Commission originally submitted the subpoena asking for the emails in February 2024 but had to renew the request in December 2024.
County Council, under the leadership of former Chairman Joe Passiment, has been openly criticized by citizens and elected officials, such as Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner and 14th Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone, for their lack of transparency with the public and law enforcement since early 2023 in dealing with investigations into inappropriate spending and P-Card usage in response to the firing of former Administrator Eric Greenway.
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.
