Council laments being left in the dark, having to speculate about Greenway investigation.

If the popular expression “democracy dies in darkness” is right, Monday night’s activities around the Beaufort County Council meeting could have used an ambulance.

Before and after the formal portion of the meeting, individual members of the county council claimed to be just as in the dark as the public about the investigation into the county administrator’s alleged misconduct. The county administrator also appeared to be unaware of the identity of his accuser or the details of the probe.

Other than having an authoritative title, who or what exactly is handling and managing the investigation is also unclear.

Council Person Tommy Reitz who prides himself on transparency and “putting the people first” spoke with a frustrated tone. He said he has been getting lots of calls and emails about the allegations against County Administrator Eric Greenway and hasn’t been able to provide any insight to his constituents. “You know what happens if you do not address the public,” he said. “Speculation runs rampant. Why allow that to happen? Just put it out there.” “In order for the people to come first we need to know what’s going on,” he added.

Background on the case

On July 3, the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office announced that a complaint accusing Greenway of misconduct was filed in mid-May. Neither the source of the complaint or the substance of the accusations have yet to be made public, leading several on the council to express frustration Monday.

The sheriff’s office did its diligence and concluded the complaint was “substantial” and warranted a more complete investigation. The complaint was then referred to the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s office. Last week, Solicitor Duffie Stone announced a further investigation would be handled by a joint entity described as the Public Integrity Unit. This unit includes law enforcement officials, possibly including prosecutors from the 1st and 14th Circuit’s offices. This unit is described as specializing in “allegations of public corruption, cases of officer-involved use of force and other matters involving public officials.”

“It’s all speculation”

Monday evening before the council meeting, County Council Chairman Joe Passiment declined to discuss what he described are “personnel matters.” “I can’t tell you anything,” said Passiment. “That doesn’t mean we aren’t going to take this seriously. But I can’t tell you what we’re doing, what we’re not doing, what we can do, what we can’t do.”

Passiment’s fellow council members also claimed to know very little. Most said it was too early to make any sort of judgment call on Greenway’s future or his responsibilities because they simply didn’t have enough information, or any at all. “Right now, we’re like everybody else,” said Councilperson Mark Lawson. “It’s all speculation.”

The council members that were willing to provide some forward-looking views said they would consider taking action to modify Greenway’s county responsibilities, depending on what the investigation uncovers.

“We’re simply waiting to get some information from the Public Integrity Unit hoping they will give us some and if there’s any action we have to take, then of course we’ll take it,” said Vice-Chair Larry McElynn. “And that could be some kind of administrative leave, it could be movement of responsibilities. I mean, there’s a lot of things that could be undertaken but, at this point, anything we do is just based on guesswork.” Council Person Paula Brown said she would consider supporting administrative leave as well.

McElynn said he felt “a great deal” of concern about the investigation, but again was hindered in what to think because of the lack of information at the moment.

“No one is above the law,” said Councilperson Lawson. “We we all have to play by the same rules. I’ve known Eric a long time. I still trust him. I think that he’s done a great job for us. But again, we’ll deal with whatever shows up whenever the time is right.” “I’m not sure what the correct way to do it - whether we should have been contacted or not contacted. I don’t know the answer to that. So (we will) just look and we’ll have to wait for the facts to find out what it’s about.”

“You have to take everything, seriously,” said Councilperson Logan Cunningham. “But with that said, there’s a reason we have a process and, you know, it’s an employee matter. The sheriff’s office and the newspaper know more than I do, unfortunately.” Cunningham said he would base his opinion of taking action on the results of the investigation. “That’s all part of the due process,” he said. “As far as I know everything’s still been working properly.”

Councilperson York Glover said simply “We don’t know anything, so there’s nothing we can do.”

Not all members were willing to discuss this curious situation. Council members Tab Tabernik and Alice Howard were asked about this issue and replied with answers of “no comment.”

Council members Gerald Dawson and David Bartholomew could not be reached by phone following the adjournment of the meeting.

During his administrator’s report at the outset of Monday’s meeting Greenway shared, “I received a lot of calls over the last week or so, voicing support and I want to thank everybody that may be listening or watching tonight. It meant a lot to me.”

Last week, Greenway released his most comprehensive statement on the investigation that read, “I learned on Monday, July 3rd, that a complaint had been filed against me with the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office and that the sheriff referred it out for investigation. I am unaware of any misconduct on my part. I am prepared to participate fully in the investigation.”