Beaufort County caucus goes into executive session on personnel and two lawsuits, returns with no action

Beaufort County’s caucus meeting on Aug. 11 opened, approved its agenda by a show of hands and moved into executive session to discuss an annual personnel review and two pending lawsuits, the chair said.

The chair opened the meeting and noted that "this meeting caucus meeting was advertised in compliance with the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act." A council member moved to approve the caucus agenda; the chair announced the motion as "by Councilman Passman and second by Councilman Brown" and said the vote was unanimous by a show of hands.

The chair read the executive-session items under South Carolina Code § 30-4-70: a personnel matter under subsection (a)(1) described as the annual performance review of the county administrator and the clerk to council, and two litigation matters under subsection (a)(2) — a pending case listed as Cheryl A. Mundy and Margaret Devine v. Beaufort County Detention Center and a separate matter, Pine Island Golf LLC v. Beaufort County, for which the council expected to receive legal advice.

A council member moved to go into executive session "as read," the chair announced the motion and noted a second; the council adjourned to another room for the closed session. On returning, the chair said, "We had no actions out of executive session," indicating the meeting produced no formal votes or decisions related to those items.

The caucus was then adjourned. The chair announced the council would reconvene for its regular meeting at 6:00 p.m.

No further details on the personnel review or the litigation matters were disclosed during the public caucus.