Beaufort County Faces State Grand Jury Subpoenas
If you’ve been keeping up with the news in Beaufort County, South Carolina, you’ve probably heard that a state grand jury threw some pretty serious subpoenas their way. They’re all about financial records and a possible mix up with contracts, buying stuff, and all odd purchase-related behavior.
Hannah Nichols, a spokesperson for the county, made it very clear that they’ve gotten not one, not two, but four of these state grand jury subpoenas. And according to her, they’re fully cooperating and all set to hand over whatever documents they’re asked for.
The Specifics of the Subpoenas
So you might be wondering, what exactly are these subpoenas asking for? Well, they’ve got demands for records related to purchasing cards, spending under former Beaufort County Administrator Eric Greenway, and a contract for a construction job at a playground called Bruce Edgerly Park in Port Royal, sorta came into limelight.
A law firm from Greenville called Haynesworth Sinkler Boyd ran an audit and found some pretty hard-to-ignore violations of the county’s procurement code after Greenway was let go in July 2023. Despite a lot of interested parties wanting a look-see at the audit results, they were only given up to law enforcement on Aug. 26, 2024.
What’s Up with the Playground?
Back to that playground in Port Royal. Turns out, all its shiny new equipment was installed and paid for without the council’s green light. So yeah, that’s against Beaufort County’s procurement code. Not to mention, this playground bathroom ended up costing the county almost $350,000, thanks to Nix Construction, the only bidder, bringing the total bill for this project over a whopping 1 million dollars.
The Request for a Grand Jury
Duffie Stone, the 14th Circuit Solicitor, had a little chat with Attorney General Alan Wilson in November 2023. He wanted the Attorney General to get a state grand jury involved to take a closer look at Greenway’s supposed misconduct. The trigger? A Beaufort County employee deciding to lawyer up and not talk to an agent from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED).
Stone recognizes that a grand jury can do some things he can’t, like subpoena documents and make people testify about the case. Which, according to him, is absolutely necessary in dealing with public corruption. He hopes this will change in the S.C. General Assembly soon.
Beaufort County Council Responds
The Beaufort County Council voted for waiving off their attorney-client privilege and releasing the report to law enforcement to have a nosey on Aug. 26. It was quite shocking to Stone that the County Council had to vote on whether to cooperate with the investigation. As of last week, both Stone and Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner had a copy of the report in their hands.
