Beaufort’s release of ‘very sensitive’ data to public was ‘failure on somebody’s part’
The city of Beaufort has launched an investigation to find how thousands of emails and attachments, many of which contained “very sensitive” information about city business and employees, were released to the public via a Freedom of Information Act request. Making matters worse, many of the documents carried details that would normally have been redacted or otherwise obscured.
Under the state’s FOIA law, members of the public can officially request government records and public officials must respond with the information under prescribed time periods -- but there are certain exemptions to protect personal privacy, trade secrets, confidential commercial or financial information and information related to ongoing law enforcement investigations.
The city announced last week that it had violated some of the exemptions in releasing around 9,000 pages of information to Kiel and Autumn Hollis, the Beaufort residents who submitted the FOI request but got much more than they expected or the public normally has a right to see.
Examples of the types of exempt information that the city mistakenly released included social security numbers, information related to police investigations and behind-the-scenes details about the city’s legal conversations regarding lawsuits, which falls under attorney-client privelege, according to city officials and the Hollises.
The release of these documents were first reported in the Island News in a story Monday.
Finding the what, who and how
The city has opened an internal investigation, led by Deputy City Manager J.J. Sauve, to figure out what was released, who was affected and how it happened, City Manager Scott Marshall said.
The City Council has yet to discuss the matter since it was announced last week but going forward, Mayor Phil Cromer said, protocols must be put in place to ensure it doesn’t happen again. He fears the city will be susceptible to lawsuits because of the release of the information that’s exempt from public records laws.
“This was a failure on somebody’s part,” Cromer said, “so we’re going to have to get to the bottom of it.”
The city uses a common computer software program Adobe Acrobat Pro in processing FOI requests, Marshall says. The program allows users to convert scanned documents into a PDF format. The program has a manual tool that allows sensitive information to be redacted. In this instance, the private information was not blocked nor was the mistake caught before the documents were released. The software’s first version dates back to 1993 with a much more advanced release coming almost every year in the last eight.
Begin the inventory, communication
The city’s next step is inventorying everything that was released, including information identifying individuals, and taking a look at why it happened, including potential problems with the redactive software and human error, Marshall said.
“I want everybody to know we are taking it very seriously,” Marshall said.
Whether disciplinary action will be warranted will depend on the results of the investigation, Marshall said.
The unredacted information was given to Kiel and Autumn Hollis July 30.
The couple had sought records in May related to a search by law enforcement for their daughter who was missing for several days in February. The Hollises criticized the way in which police handled the search for their daughter.
Kiel Hollis reported on Facebook the couple was surprised when they received a 9,000-page “information dump” that included not just details about their daughter’s case but unrelated documents that included unredacted emails, juvenile arrest records, police interviews, social security numbers and “much, much more.”
The same unredacted information was mistakenly released to City Councilman Josh Scallate as well. The councilman had requested only the information about the public records request regarding the police response to the Hollis’ missing daughter. Scallate said he asked for that information after seeing a comment from Kiel Hollis on Facebook that he had received his FOI documents.
“I was anticipating I would get a redacted version,” Scallate said, “but when I started reading it I said, ‘This isn’t redacted.’”
Scallate said he notified City Manager Marshall Deputy City Manager Sauve Aug. 1. The city sent out a press release on Aug. 5 but the public notification failed to disclose the scope of private information that was released.
Scallate estimated there were 9,000 to 15,000 pages of information. He said he stopped reading after seeing “very sensitive information” including social security numbers, the pay stub of one employee and information about city litigation.
“It’s a big deal,” Scallate said.
Ironically, the city’s announcement about the release of the exempt information came a week after the city launched a new FOIA management platform that it says will enhance data security and has built-in safeguards and will reduce the amount of staff time devoted to the requests “and the likelihood of future disclosure errors.
Kiel Hollis said on Facebook that he won’t release any of the unredacted emails publicly.
“Most of it is none of my or anyone else’s business,” he said. “There are DSS reports, forensic interviews, police reports, budgets, invoices, warrants and warrant requests, juvenile arrest records and much, much more.”
This story was originally published August 12, 2025 at 6:12 PM.
