Beaufort hires law firm to review botched document release. ‘Fix these failures.’
Editor’s note: The original version of this story incorrectly said Councilman Mike McFee was not at the meeting. McFee attended the meeting via Zoom and did vote.
The Beaufort City Council on Monday voted to hire a Charleston-based law firm to review how 9,000 pages of emails and attachments were released to the public with some private information.
The emails, some of which included details such as social security numbers, sensitive law enforcement investigative material and privileged legal correspondence between the city and its attorneys, were accidentally released to a Beaufort couple as part of a Freedom of Information Act request, the city said in August.
With the cat out of the bag, the city council wanted an independent investigator to find out how it happened. Haynesworth Sinkler Boyd, a law firm with 110 attorneys and offices in Charleston, Columbia, Greenville, Florence and Raleigh, will lead the quest for answers in the unusual situation that has exposed private individuals and the city.
“As quickly as possible,” Mayor Phil Cromer said after the meeting on when the inquiry will begin.
Council members Mike McFee, Josh Scallate, Mitch Mitchell and Neil Lipsitz joined Cromer in voting to hire the firm.
Some of the documents seemingly had no connection to the couple’s original FOIA request and others had information that should have been redacted from the public’s view.
City officials have said that the blame may lie with a computer software program used to redact private information, and with human error. The city was planning an internal investigation, but Cromer said last week that he wanted to hire outside counsel so the public doesn’t view the probe as being tainted.
As soon as the Monday meeting convened at 2:45 p.m., Lipsitz made a motion for the council to go into closed executive session to discuss “contractual agreements.” Meetings of local bodies are presumed public unless the members cite one of several specific reasons listed in state law allowing private talks. Discussing contracts is one of the reasons.
“Bear with us, we’ll be back,” said Cromer, before council members left the council chambers out a side door.
Council members resumed the public meeting at 4:17 p.m. and quickly voted to hire Haynesworth, Sinkler and Boyd.
Six people attended the meeting, waiting as the council members met privately.
Two them were Kiel and Autumn Hollis. They submitted the FOIA that created the controversy. They were seeking information on how police handled the search for their 12-year-old daughter in February.
The Hollises contend that their daughter was taken to Florida by 16-year-old boy and the city failed to react with urgency. City officials have previously defended how the case was handled.
The information that was released in the documents included Department of Social Services information, forensic evidence and medical information about her daughter, said Autumn Hollis. She questioned why that type of information is not put on secure servers.
She said the city should investigate not only how the records were released, but how they’re being circulated.
“But who — who? — has been distributing them?” she said. “I have the evidence to prove these documents have not just been sent to me and Josh (Scallate). Because until the families you’ve exposed are given answers and protection, there will be no trust left in the city’s leadership.”
Councilman Scallate sought and received the same unredacted information after it was released to the Hollises.
The city has a responsibility to conduct an unbiased investigation and “fix these failures,” Kiel Hollis added.
The firm is no stranger to local Beaufort County governments
Beaufort County Council unanimously voted to hire Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd in August of 2023 for $350K to conduct their audits of county spending under former administrator Eric Greenway. The results of this audit has never been released to the public.
This story was originally published August 26, 2025 at 11:09 AM.
