Hilton Head’s leaders planned to talk about town manager’s future. So what stopped them?

Hilton Head Town Council had planned Tuesday to talk publicly for the first time about town manager Steve Riley’s precarious employment situation, but that discussion was later postponed.

Council member David Ames moved to postpone the discussion, citing the length of Tuesday’s meeting. In addition, council member Bill Harkins informed the council after a short recess at about 7:15 p.m. that mayor David Bennett had an apparent family emergency.

Mayor pro tem Kim Likins moved to postpone the remainder of the agenda, and Ames suggested that the mayor, who appeared to be visibly upset, excuse himself. Neither happened, however, and council members continued with regularly scheduled business for about a half hour longer.

Harkins suggested that a special meeting to discuss Riley’s situation be scheduled as soon as possible, though a possible date was not discussed.

“I think waiting two weeks is too long,” Harkins told the council. “I think we’ve got to get this behind us and move forward.”

Hilton Head mayoral candidate and council member John McCann made a motion before an executive session at 4 p.m. asking that the council move a discussion of “proposed contractual arrangements with the town manager” to a public discussion rather than one behind closed doors, as it had been planned originally.

The motion was approved by council members Harkins, Marc Grant and Tom Lennox, and added to the public meeting agenda under new business.

The council has been meeting behind closed doors periodically for more than a year to discuss Riley’s employment situation. The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette revealed in July that the council secretly hired the McNair Law Firm to assist council members with the matter.

It’s no secret that Riley and Bennett have been at odds with one another. Riley once cited personality differences between the two; Bennett, however, recently denied any tension between them when asked about a performance evaluation from 2015 that criticized Riley for, among other things, a lack of leadership and initiative.

Since last summer, Riley, the town manager since 1995, has sought at least four out-of-state government jobs, though he was not offered any of those positions. He is considered to be a current candidate for the position of longtime Beaufort County administrator Gary Kubic, who is retiring at the end of this month.

This story was originally published September 19, 2017 at 8:33 PM with the headline "Hilton Head’s leaders planned to talk about town manager’s future. So what stopped them?."