Thursday, Nov. 05, 2009

Horry County administrator search winnowed to 3

Horry County attorney and interim county administrator John Weaver and two public administrators from Florida were named Wednesday as finalists in the search for a new Horry County administrator.

Weaver, who has been with the county for 10 years, is the only local candidate for the job. Terrance Stewart, the current city manager for Cape Coral, Fla., and Duncan Ballantyne, the former county administrator for Martin County, Fla., are the other two finalists. All three will go before the full council for second interviews on Nov. 16.

According to resumes released by Horry County Council Chairwoman Liz Gilland, Stewart has 15 years of experience in public administration including stints as assistant city manager and assistant fire chief in Pembroke Pines, Fla. Ballantyne's resume shows 29 years in public administration, including jobs as city manager for Concord, N.H., and Bath, Maine, and assistant city manager for other cities, including Charlotte N.C. Weaver has worked as the county's attorney for almost 10 years, and has served several times as interimadministrator during illness or leave for the full-time administrator.

"I believe that my selection speaks well for the variety of accomplishments achieved by the county over the past six months since Mr. Knight's retirement in May," Weaver said.

Weaver said he's been happy with the way the top departments are running, but said he is concerned about the number of department directors eligible for retirement in the next few years and would work on training for those positions.

Stewart said he did not want to talk about specific plans for the position because he would be taking direction from the council and has not had a chance to meet with all of them.

The News-Press of Fort Myers, Fla., reported Wednesday that several winning candidates for Cape Coral city council and mayor campaigned on the promise to fire Stewart and a half-dozen other department directors. Current Cape Coral Mayor Jim Burch said the unrest has to do with an unpopular, but necessary utility program the city council voted into place.

"Unfortunately when you're the city manager, people associate your face with programs and things that may have come from the state's laws, or from direction of the city council. I think that's part of what's happening to [Stewart]. The new mayor is only one voice, and frankly Mr. Stewart and I have bumped heads about some things, but overall we've accomplished a lot for the city," Burch said. "He's done an overall good job for the city."

The News-Press reported that Stewart has applied for three other positions, and was a finalist for those positions, since becoming the city manager.

"There's a general unrest with a lot of incumbents across the nation. When you are a manager you work at the behest of the elected officials, you work to bring about the things that they vote and direct you to do unless they are illegal or immoral," Stewart said. "In this area, the utility expansion program the council directed me to implement, people are unhappy with that ... then they put your face with it. But when you have a job that needs to get done or that you've been asked to do, you get it done."

Ballantyne has also had some controversy. His contract was not renewed in April, and one of the county commissioners asked him to resign.

"They wanted to have new leadership at the top; it was done without cause, with no specific reason given. They felt it was time for a change and that is certainly the prerogative of the elected board," Ballantyne said Wednesday. "Martin County really has a reputation for volatility and intense political conflict, especially around growth issues. ... That volatility has affected the tenure of county administrators."

The administrator job was left open when Danny Knight, who held the position for almost a decade, announced he would leave to become director of the Horry County Solid Waste Authority. The County Council voted to spend $15,000 on an executive search firm, The Mercer Group Inc., to expand the search. On Tuesday night several county councilmen tried to push for a vote on a final candidate to be hired, rather than narrowing the pool to three. The move would have eliminated public input into the vetting process. S.C. Freedom of Information law states materials and names for "not fewer than the final three candidates" must be released. Bill Rogers, counsel for the S.C. Press Association, said the council violated state law by not notifying the public about meetings last week where a quorum of the council interviewed five candidates.

Gilland said the 12resumes the council received were all from men. Controversy arose during the search process when Gilland said she would not vote for a woman. Gilland later said she made the statement because she didn't want to put a woman through the experience based on the council's relationship with previous administrator Linda Angus, who was fired from the position more than a decade ago.

"My first question to Jim Mercer when he handed me the list was, there aren't any women? I was a bit surprised and disappointed," Gilland said. "The type of woman we would have wanted would have applied regardless of what I said."

Staff writer Adva Saldinger contributed to this report.