It’s been a rough year and a half for Beaufort County administration and the Beaufort County Council.
A financial improprieties scandal, including embarrassing allegations of the county administrator creating a job for and hiring a woman he was trying to date, and the purchase of $35,000 in blankets from a company owned by the husband of a deputy administrator.
There have been multiple firings and resignations and even potential good news, such as the hiring of a new administrator, was clouded by a hiring process that excluded the public.
Through it all, the consistent thread has been secrecy. A taxpayer-funded investigation resulted in a 30-page report the council has refused to release, angering not only the public but Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner. The hiring of new administrator Michael Moore was done in such a way that the county could conceal its finalists and prevent the public from meeting or vetting candidates and providing input.
Because so much has been done out of the public eye, we asked the 11 elected members of the county council if they would be willing to tell the people who put them in office where they stood on the controversies and why each voted the way they did.
Four council members – Tom Reitz, Paula Brown, David Bartholomew and Tab Tabernik, provided us with their viewpoints to share with our readers. Seven council members – chairman Joe Passiment, Larry McElynn, Gerald Dawson, York Glover, Alice Howard, Logan Cunningham and Mark Lawson – declined to make public their stances.
THE QUESTIONS
We asked the council questions around three central issues: 1) the handling of the release of information from the investigation into p-card and contract purchasing issues; 2) the process for hiring the new county administrator; and 3) how much of a trust issue they felt they had with the public.
WHERE YOUR COUNCIL MEMBER STANDS
Dawson, who has served on the council since 2005, chose not to disclose how he has voted or the positions he has taken in his duties. Dawson was absent for the meeting that released the summary of the 30-page report.
David Bartholomew, District 2, serves parts of Beaufort, Lady’s Island and the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort. Term expires December 2026. Contact: 843-986-7430 or dbartholomew@bcgov.net
Bartholomew, in his first term in office, says he wishes the financial investigation had been handled differently, including the hiring of an investigative firm or auditor instead of a law firm that created attorney-client privilege. He also says the new administrator has been tasked to make changes and investigate findings in the report and that he hopes the council will release everything to the public when that investigation is complete. The councilman says he has advocated for transparency from the start and notes he voted in favor of a public discussion on the release of the report’s summary (which was defeated 6-3) at a recent meeting.
As for the hiring of Michael Moore, Bartholomew says he believes the hiring was legal and based on legal advice they received. However, he says he believes candidates should have met with staff and the public before a final decision was made and that his suggestion to do so was dismissed.
Bartholomew says he believes trust in the county and council is extremely low and “rightfully so.” He says he wants the public to know they are working hard to win back trust and correct the problems the county faces.
Read Bartholomew’s responses in full here
Glover, who has served on the council since 2017, chose not to disclose how he has voted or the positions he has taken in his duties. Glover voted against the public discussion of the report’s summary.
Howard, who has served on the council since 2015, chose not to disclose how she has voted or the positions she has taken in her duties. Howard voted against the public discussion of the report’s summary.
Joe Passiment, District 5, serves parts of Okatie, Sun City and some areas along Robert Smalls Parkway. Term expires December 2026. Contact: 732-995-2102 or jpassiment@bcgov.net
Passiment is the council chairman and has served on the council since 2019. He chose not to disclose how he has voted or the positions he has taken in his duties, but as the leader of the council has defended its decisions in the past. Passiment voted against the public discussion of the report’s summary.
Tabernik, in her first term in office, says she wishes the summary had been released sooner but does not object to the full report being held back. She believes it is more important to talk about the desire and need for the new administrator to handle the problems that have been identified. Tabernik voted against the public discussion of the report’s summary.
As for the hiring of Moore, Tabernik says she relied on the legal advice the county received that all candidates were questioned thoroughly and that she was satisfied with the way things turned out. She did not mention any need for public input.
Tabernik says she is aware of the complaints about the county’s perceived lack of transparency but believes the council does a lot right, naming chats they’ve held for the community and a lot of information that can be found online. Regarding the referendum, she says the goal is to educate people and the council will live with whatever the result is.
Read Tabernik’s responses in full here
Cunningham, who has served on the council since 2021, chose not to disclose how he has voted or the positions he has taken in his duties. Cunningham was absent from the meeting that released the summary of the 30-page report.
Brown, in her first term, says she has been in favor of releasing the full purchasing investigation report and believes it ultimately will be. She says she was told all 11 council members must agree for the report to be released and questions why a majority would not suffice. She also objects to having to be confined to a conference room to read the report and says she does not know who made the decision to handle it that way.
As for the hiring of a new administrator, Brown believes that was handled properly and public input was not needed.
Brown says she believes there are trust issues with the county and that they are justified. However, she does not believe those trust issues involve believing the county has behaved secretly.
Read Brown’s responses in full here
Lawson, who has served on the council since 2019, chose not to disclose how he has voted or the positions he has taken in his duties. Lawson voted against the public discussion of the report’s summary.
McElynn, who has served on the council since 2019, chose not to disclose how he has voted or the positions he has taken in his duties. McElynn voted against the public discussion of the report’s summary.
Tom Reitz, District 11, serves the south end of Hilton Head Island and communities up the east coast of the island including Shipyard, Palmetto Dunes and Folly Field. Term expires December 2026. Contact: 843-941-3931 or thomas.reitz@bcgov.net
Reitz, in his first term in office, says he has pushed his colleagues to release the full report to the public and wishes the council had handled the situation differently, including not hiring a law firm to do the investigation.
As for the hiring of Moore, Reitz believes the process was handled appropriately. He believes the county provided enough updates and notes that he believes the candidates would have been put in a bad place if there interest had become public.
Reitz said the council “absolutely” has a trust problem, noting he believes his election was directly tied to distrust in the previous council. “We right now have a golden opportunity to do the right thing.” As for the referendum, Reitz noted the all council members have been cautioned not to advocate either way, but said he voted against putting the referendum on the ballot three times because that was the feedback he was getting from his constituents.
Read Reitz’s responses in full here
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