Hilton Head official under fire from state ethics commission for Beaufort Co. contract

A former Beaufort County interim administrator whose actions are already being investigated by the county has been issued a hearing notice from the S.C. State Ethics Commission.

Josh Gruber has been summoned to appear before the commission in Columbia at 9:30 a.m. on June 20 for a hearing regarding a consulting contract he and the county attorney drew up as he was preparing to leave for a position with the Town of Hilton Head Island last August.

The commission said it determined there is probable cause to support an allegation that Gruber performed an official function related to a government contract that involved a personal economic interest.

“Joshua Gruber, interim Beaufort county administrator, did, in Richland County, perform an official function related to a government contract in which he had an economic interest by writing the terms of a post-employment independent contractor agreement between himself and Beaufort County,” the hearing notice says..

The complainant is Mare Baracco, a resident of Port Royal. Baracco said Monday that she filed the complaint with the state in October and received notice of the hearing on Friday.

The commission said Monday that it will represent Baracco in the matter with its investigation.

“Our government is based on laws and trust,” Baracco said in a statement sent to the The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette Monday. “If this contract was correct and appropriate, County Council and the citizenry would have known about it. Instead, it was created and executed secretly, without any vetting by the entire council and the public.”

She also badgered County Council to stick by its guns when it voted to investigate the contract, then stalled.

“(I)t was profoundly disturbing to learn the new (council) chairman (Stu Rodman) sent an email January 12 from his personal account to some council members and senior employees suggesting this investigation be shut down,” Baracco said during the public-comment period of a council meeting in January..

At the center of the conflict is a consulting contract awarded by the county to Gruber to advise his replacements as needed after he was gone. It came two weeks prior to him taking a job as assistant administrator for the Town of Hilton Head Island.

County Attorney Tom Keaveny — formerly on Gruber’s staff as county attorney before becoming interim county administrator last July 23 — authorized Gruber’s consulting contract for $24,000, which ran from Aug. 6 to Oct. 8 with 30-day extensions at $12,000 each.

Keaveny said he went through the “normal process of contract approval” — because no committee or council approval is needed for expenditures of less than $50,000.

But County Council was not aware of the contract until two months later when members were alerted from a private citizen.

The contract angered some council members who felt it kept taxpayers in the dark and was struck in secret, the newspapers reported in September.

Other council members thought there was no problem, and the issue went back and forth until the council decided to conduct its own investigation into the contract. It retained Chester County attorney Joanie Winters in early February to investigate the contract, following an earlier effort that stalled.

Keaveny stepped down as interim administrator in September — one day after council members first voted to investigate the legality of his decision to issue Gruber the contract.

Interim county administrator John Weaver said Monday that he was not aware of the state’s hearing and added that the hearing will not have an impact on the county’s investigation.

“I think they will be looked at independently,” Weaver said of the hearing and the investigation.

The county hopes that its investigation will be complete by the end of April, Weaver said.

He added that he was not aware of any county government members who have been called as witnesses for the state’s hearing.

The hearing notice mentions that Gruber has the right to be represented by counsel, to call and examine witnesses, to introduce exhibits and cross-examine opposing witnesses.

Two attempts to reach Gruber Monday were not successful.

Baracco said, “Even after it was discovered, the details had to be dragged out from the dark recesses into the sunshine. This is not the kind of government we pay for or deserve, and I am heartened by the Ethics Commission’s finding and notice of hearing.”

Anyone can file a complaint with the State Ethics Commission, but hearings are not held unless its own investigation finds probable cause for a violation.

It can issue public reprimands and fine those found guilty.

In a recent carefully-watched case in Beaufort County, former school superintendent Jeffrey Moss was publicly reprimanded and fined after admitting guilt to two out of three ethics violations as part of a deal to avoid a hearing over his involvement in the hiring of his wife.

This story was originally published April 1, 2019 at 3:16 PM.