Was he fired or did he quit? This top Beaufort County leader is out
Beaufort County’s second highest administrator confirmed Wednesday he is no longer employed with the county.
He says he was fired.
The county says he resigned.
Chris Inglese was promoted to deputy county administrator in October and oversaw the operations of the county.
“I have not resigned, and I had no intention of resigning. I was fired,” he said Wednesday. “They made me an offer of severance for three months, and I have 21 days to think about it.”
He said he was told at 10:20 a.m. Wednesday to turn in his badge and his phone and that “things just aren’t working out.”
“My family and I are devastated that, in the midst of so many people being unemployed, that I would be added to that number,” he said. “We’ll be praying about our next steps.”
When called for comment to confirm Inglese’s firing, county public information officer Liz Farrell said “as far as the county is concerned, he resigned today.”
Wednesday’s announcement comes just over a month after Beaufort County Chief Financial Officer Alicia Holland resigned from the county in the midst of budget season.
Inglese had worked for the county since 2017. Before that, he worked as an attorney in private practice in Charleston and served as a planner for the City of Charleston for nine years, according to his Linkedin profile.
In his role as the second in command to Administrator Ashley Jacobs, Inglese said he’s most proud of his involvement in ushering in the county’s reopening plan during the coronavirus pandemic, working on a communications and transparency report for county council and creating a sick leave policy for county employees.
Inglese presented that new sick leave policy to council in December and said better benefits help “attract and retain quality employees.” The plan, which provided employees with sick leave, two additional holidays and a personal day, was approved late last year.
Inglese and the county did not provide any reason for his departure.
This story was originally published June 3, 2020 at 3:31 PM.
