Beaufort city manager recovering from cardiac bypass surgery, interim manager appointed

Beaufort city manager Bill Prokop underwent cardiac bypass surgery at the Medical University of South Carolina’s Health University Medical Center Tuesday, city officials announced Wednesday. Prokop, who is still in the hospital, will recover at home for four to six weeks once he is discharged.

Assistant City Manager Reece Bertholf will fill in for Prokop as interim city manager during the recovery period.

City of Beaufort communications manager Kathleen Williams declined to give details on the reason for Prokop’s surgery, citing his privacy.

“All the department heads and staff and elected officials wish him a very speedy recovery and hope that it won’t be too long before he’s back here,” Williams said.

Kate Hidalgo Bellows

The Island Packet

843-560-9619

Kate Hidalgo Bellows covers workforce and livability issues in Beaufort County for The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette. A graduate of the University of Virginia and a native of Fairfax City, Virginia, she moved to the Lowcountry to write for The Island Packet as a Report for America corps member in May 2020. She has written for The New York Times, The Patriot-News, and Charlottesville Tomorrow, and is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. She has won South Carolina Press Association awards for enterprise reporting, in-depth reporting and food writing.