Finalists for Beaufort County’s top post set, will be interviewed behind closed doors

Following multiple requests over the past several weeks by The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette, names of the three finalists for the top job in Beaufort County government were unceremoniously released Friday afternoon in an agenda for a Beaufort County Council work session set for next week.

The finalists for the Beaufort County administrator position are:

Josh Gruber, acting Beaufort County administrator

Gruber — who stepped in Friday as acting county administrator following the retirement of longtime county leader Gary Kubic — served as deputy county administrator since 2014.

He joined the county as a staff attorney in 2011, after serving two years in the same position for Berkeley County.

An Ohio native, Gruber, 36, studied political science at Clemson University before earning a master’s degree in public administration from Georgia State University. He earned his law degree at Capital University Law School in Columbus, Ohio.

Gruber said Friday, “I’m certainly excited about this opportunity.”

He said his “institutional knowledge and track record” would help make him a successful administrator.

William Anthony “Tony” McDonald, former Richland County administrator

McDonald, 57, left his position with Richland County last year after serving as administrator since 2012.

He was an assistant county administrator for about a decade prior to 2012. He worked for Richland County for about three decades as a research analyst in the administration department after completing a graduate degree at the University of South Carolina.

McDonald could not be reached for comment Friday.

Daniel Alfonso, Miami city manager

Alfonso, 49, began serving as Miami’s budget director in 2011 and took over as manager during the summer of 2013 when former administrator Johnny Martinez fell ill, according to a report from the Miami Herald.

Mayor Tomás Regalado, who appointed Alfonso, will soon leave office due to term limits.

“There’s a high likelihood that the new mayor will be wanting to bring in his own manager. So I’m looking to find a place to land by the time that happens,” Alfonso told the Herald last month.

He was recently a finalist for the administrator job in Brevard County, Fla.

According to his biography on the city’s website, Alfonso spent 17 years working in various operational and administrative positions with Miami-Dade county.

He also served in the United States Army from 1986 to 1991 and hold a master’s degree in finance from Florida International University.

“I’m honored to be amongst the finalists,” Alfonso said Friday. “And I look forward to the opportunity that has been given to me.”

He added that Beaufort County, like Miami, gets hit by hurricanes and tropical storms.

“I can tell you I have a lot of experience with cleaning up debris,” he said, noting Irma’s significant damage to Miami.

Beaufort County Council chairman Paul Sommerville said Friday that the three finalists were culled from a list of about 50 applicants.

“We are very fortunate to have three good candidates, and we look forward meeting with all of them,” he said.

County Council members plan to interview the trio during a work session scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Beaufort-Jasper Water and Sewer Authority, 6 Snake Road, Okatie.

“We have some questions that we are going to ask all the candidates, but all the council members will be able to ask free-form questions to individual candidates if they choose to.”

The interviews will be held behind closed doors during an executive session, Sommerville said, and there are no public meetings scheduled at this time for public interviews.

The decision to hold the interview in private comes despite calls from Kubic for transparency in hiring his replacement.

The longtime county leader, who officially retired effective Friday after about 13 years in his position, said earlier this week that he would like to see the Beaufort County Council conduct all interviews with candidates publicly.

Kubic went a step further, saying he would like the interviews to be televised and archived online for residents to watch at their convenience.

“For our citizens, (making the interview process transparent) removes any appearance that there are backroom deals and assures everyone that the process is above board,” Kubic said.

It’s also beneficial for the candidate ultimately selected for the job, he said, because that person “isn’t walking in on Day One with questions floating around about the (hiring) process,” he said.

Kubic’s position on transparency echos that of Bill Rogers, executive director of the South Carolina Press Association.

“The public has far more faith in a search that’s conducted in maximum openness,” Rogers said last week.

For weeks Beaufort County Council had been tight-lipped about who has applied for the administrator position, maintaining their position that candidates or applicants would not be named until three finalists emerged.

Longtime Hilton Head Town manager Steve Riley was an applicant, but withdrew his name from consideration, Beaufort County Councilman Rick Caporale confirmed Friday.

The S.C. Freedom of Information Act requires that “materials relating to not fewer than the final three applicants under consideration for a position must be made available for public inspection and copying.”

This story was originally published September 29, 2017 at 12:44 PM with the headline "Finalists for Beaufort County’s top post set, will be interviewed behind closed doors."