Beaufort Administrator Greenway placed on paid leave amid misconduct investigation.

Beaufort County Administrator Eric Greenway has been placed on indefinite paid administrative leave amid the ongoing investigation into possible misconduct.

The Beaufort County Council called a special meeting on the morning of Monday, July 24 and immediately went into private executive session for two hours. What exactly was discussed remains shrouded in secrecy but the results were shared in public through five separate motions read by Council Chairman Joe Passiment immediately after the executive session.

Chief among the motions was their first one on whether to place Greenway on paid administrative leave. Part of the motion also included appointing Assistant Administrator John Robinson as acting county administrator during the time Greenway will be sidelined.

The motion passed unanimously with all eleven council members in attendance either in-person or via a video connection. According to interim Public Information Officer Sarah Brock, the suspension will be effective immediately.

The other four motions were considered and passed unanimously. The first was for the finance administration and economic development committee to contract with a third-party vendor to review purchases made after January 1, 2023, ensuring all were in compliance with the county’s procurement codes. The second motion was similar to the first but dealt with a review of all contracts since the beginning of this year. The third motion was intended to review the county’s procurement codes to determine if there are needed changes or updates. The fourth motion was to review the county’s purchasing card or “p-card” system, which is essentially a credit card county employees use when buying supplies.

Council did not take any questions or give any comments as to what was discussed leading to their decision to place Greenway on leave. Instead County Council Chairman Joe Passiment simply gave the public the following statement.

“We need to say that we realize everyone wants to know the reason or reasons that caused us to take the decisions to place Mr. Greenway on administrative leave, to hire the acting administrator, to conduct the various items that we have passed motions on and rightfully so,” Passiment said. “Unfortunately, consistent with county policy we cannot say more at this time because this is an ongoing personnel matter. Our legal advice has told us that we could jeopardize our standing at any time discussing a personnel matter until it is completed.

“There will come a time when we can talk about it openly and freely and we will do so, but we’re not there yet,” he added. “So, please be patient with us as we go through this process together.”

The investigation into Greenway’s actions are being handled by the Public Integrity Unit, a joint force of the 14th and 1st solicitor’s offices established to look into allegations of public corruption, cases of officer-involved use of force and other matters involving public officials.

The investigation was announced on July 3 by Beaufort County’s Sheriff’s office who, after conversations with the 14th circuit solicitor, decided a third-party would be handling the investigation.

A voicemail and text to Greenway from the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette requesting comments on today’s developments we not returned.