Beaufort County administrator officially fired after public hearing

BEAUFORT COUNTY, S.C. (WTOC) - Former Beaufort County Administrator Eric Greenway was officially terminated after a public hearing on Monday.

The Beaufort County Council voted to unanimously uphold Greenway’s firing.

“It’s now official that Mr. Greenway has been terminated as the County Administrator of Beaufort County,” Beaufort County Council Chairman Joseph Passiment said.

During the hearing, Passiment went into detail about the reasons for firing Greenway. The council says that Greenway intentionally violated multiple county ordinances related to a contract with a consulting firm, with various conflicts of interest and tens of thousands of dollars of unapproved spending.

Passiment said Greenway did not follow the standard procurement codes.

“Those were missed, and therefore that’s a serious violation of his contract,” Passiment said.

Greenway’s representation said that before being hired as administrator, Greenway never said he was the right fit for the job.

“He did not claim to have knowledge of procurement and finance, quite the opposite, he specifically told you he did not have knowledge in those areas,” Paul Porter, who represents Greenway, said.

The council said another major reason for Greenway’s termination was creating a new job that wasn’t in the budget for a woman he had a personal relationship with. They say she was also connected to the consulting firm with conflicts of interest.

According to the council, the job Greenway created for the woman had a six figure salary. After a falling out with the woman, Greenway told her she was “now just an employee of the county.”

Passiment said the county will not dwell on Greenway.

“It’s an unfortunate situation. No one likes to go through anything like this, but we’ve gone through it. And now we move on,” Passiment said.

After the hearing, Greenway’s representative said he stands by the comments he made.

Copyright 2023 WTOC. All rights reserved.