Beaufort County’s top attorney handed demotion, $25K pay cut. Here’s what we know
Tom Keaveny, the embattled Beaufort County attorney who authorized consulting contracts for former government employees, has been demoted, County Administrator Ashley Jacobs confirmed Wednesday.
Keaveny, a former interim administrator who was involved in several recent controversial decisions, including the consulting contracts, gave up the top attorney spot as of Jan. 17 and is now deputy county attorney.
Former Charleston County Administrator Kurt Taylor has taken over as county attorney. Keaveny hired Taylor for the deputy attorney role in October.
The switch came days after Keaveny presented the county with a draft ordinance that would allow the council chairman to order police officers to remove, and possibly arrest, “disruptive” speakers at public meetings. Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner said the ordinance would result in governments being sued for violating free speech rights.
Keaveny, whose salary dropped to $105,000 from $130,000, will now work for Taylor, who will make $150,000 in his new role.
Jacobs informed council members of the personnel changes in an email Friday afternoon.
Jacobs refused to discuss any potential performance issues related to Keaveny, but said Taylor’s experience in economic development, purchasing and emergency management made him a better fit for the top role.
Taylor has more government experience in “overall matters like deciding when we use an ordinance or resolution,” Jacobs said.
“I think it’s a very positive move for the county and a very positive move for county council,” she said. “He will be a real asset for us and someone to lean on for legal guidance.”
Although Jacobs said she conducted a performance review of Keaveny, she declined to provide it to The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette, citing advice from her labor attorney.
She added that he was not facing any disciplinary action.
Keaveny did not return a call for comment Wednesday.
Keaveny presented the ordinance that allows police to arrest public speakers after Chairman Stu Rodman said the county needed rules for decorum at meetings — and insisted that a local government critic’s “antics have elevated” at meetings.
Some council members said the ordinance was a slippery slope and an attempt to target the behavior of one person.
Although Keaveny said the ordinance was legal and had “withstood judicial scrutiny,” Sheriff Tanner said his deputies would not abide by it because it created First Amendment issues.
At a meeting last week of 20 elected officials from area municipalities, Tanner smacked down the ordinance and said he had no part in drafting it. Nor, he said, would he allow his deputies to remove people from public meetings if public officials aren’t happy with their behavior.
Keaveny was also involved in Rodman’s orchestration behind the scenes of a plan to hire interim Administrator Josh Gruber for the permanent position in 2018. Keaveny hired a parliamentarian to attend the July 23, 2018, council meeting specifically to affirm that the hiring was done according to parliamentary procedure.
Last summer, The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette published investigations into several issues involving previous county administrations.
Though many county leaders said they simply wanted to move on under the new leadership of Jacobs, Keaveny was still seen as a common denominator in nearly all the controversies.
What happened?
While briefly serving as interim county administrator in 2018, Keaveny was involved in crafting a controversial $24,000 consulting contract between the county and former Administrator Josh Gruber.
The contract, which Keaveny signed in July 2018, angered many county council members, who said it was written in secret, in nebulous language and without council approval. Others considered the contract a way to “pay off” Gruber after he wasn’t selected for the permanent county administrator job.
On Aug. 17, 2018, the same day the county paid Gruber $24,000, Keaveny extended another controversial contract for the former clerk of council Ashley Bennett for $100 per hour to create meeting minutes. Bennett’s contract, totaling $24,000, was signed just after she accused a council member of sexual harassment and resigned.
The newspapers found that the two contracts signed by Keaveny were among 37 cases in which Beaufort County gave independent services contracts to government employees after they left their jobs — a practice that an outside investigation said is likely against state law.
Keaveny, who took over the interim administrator role when Josh Gruber departed the county on July 23, 2018, resigned two months later — one day after council members voted to investigate the legality of the $24,000 contract with Gruber.
After resigning, Keaveny stayed on as county attorney — a position he had held since May 2015 — until Friday.
This story was originally published January 22, 2020 at 4:35 PM.
