Wednesday, Nov. 04, 2009

Horry County narrows hunt for administrator's job

Horry County Council had a packed meeting Tuesday night, passing two ordinances including a revised set of towing rules, pushing through public hearings on several other ordinances and choosing three finalists to interview for the county administrator's job, which has been filled for the last six months by county attorney and interim administrator John Weaver.

The council voted to wait until later this afternoon to release the names of those finalists to give them a chance to notify their employers. During the process, the council voted to spend $15,000 to hire the Mercer Group, an executive search firm to assist in the search for candidates. The firm brought about a dozen resumes to the council last week.

Eight of the twelve council members conducted private interviews with five semi-finalists Thursday and Friday. S.C. Freedom of Information law requires governments to announce meetings where a quorum of elected officials gather to discuss decisions of public interest, even if the majority of the meeting is legally held in a closed session. The law also requires that governments release the names of candidates for government positions when the list of candidates is narrowed to three or less. Tuesday night, several members of council said they were ready to skip the public vetting process and jump to voting for a final candidate.

"Horry County Council runs Horry County, not you. If I want to vote for one, don't force me to vote for three," said Councilman Harold Worley, who got into an argument with County Council Chairwoman Liz Gilland after she directed the council members to vote for three of the five candidates presented to them for consideration.

Gilland responded by saying that none of the candidates stood out so much from the others that the council wouldn't benefit from a second interview.

The three candidates will be invited back for second interviews, and their resumes will be released today.

The council also voted in a narrow victory to approve a set of towing regulations including a cap on the price companies can charge for forced tows from illegal parking spots or from the county's towing rotation list for arrests or wrecks. The council voted to turn down an increase in the price cap approved by the council's public safety committee, and revert to the prices approved in the second reading of the ordinance, reverting from $180 and $200 to $160 and $175 for light or medium and heavy wrecker tows, respectively. Several tow truck company owners who were present in the back of council chambers were audibly upset by the decision. The prices had gone back for four sets of negotiations between companies, county attorneys and council members.

"I didn't agree with raising the price. We've been back and forth so many times and it was because of the public input that we had at the public safety meeting that we raised it to begin with," said Councilman Bob Grabowski. "I don't agree with it. I was reluctant, but I wanted to see this move forward. I think it's important that this ordinance passes."

Other actions that passed without public input Tuesday:

Final approval of an ordinance to regulate the location of day cares inside county limits. The ordinance limits day cares, facilities with 13 or more children, to areas zoned for commercial development. The rule will also require 20,000 sq. feet of space for day care facilities.

Second reading and public review of an ordinance approving an updated budget of the Horry County Solid Waste Authority to purchase land to build a new recycling center in Socastee.

First reading to introduce an ordinance to add a law against animal hoarding to the county code of laws.