$250 an hour? Beaufort County Council hires outside attorney to remain ‘unbiased’
As Beaufort County prepares to begin another search for a permanent chief administrator, the County Council has hired an outside attorney as an expensive parliamentarian to make sure members follow the law and Robert’s Rules of Order during meetings.
Seven of the 11 elected officials on Monday night approved a renewable three-month contract with attorney Helen McFadden to provide “unbiased recommendations and opinions” to Chair Joe Passiment before, during and after meetings. She replaces County Council member Brian Flewelling, who resigned as parliamentarian when he heard about the plan.
The county will pay McFadden $250 per hour during council meetings and $125 per hour for work performed outside of meetings, according to the contract approved Monday.
McFadden’s contract is from Jan. 25 to April 26 and is renewable “upon mutual consent.”
The new role is in addition to the county’s attorney, Kurt Taylor, whose job is to give legal advice to council and administration. Passiment said he didn’t want the county attorney to serve as parliamentarian because it “pits” the county’s administration against county council.
“It puts them in the middle,” he said.
The hiring of an outside attorney as parliamentarian as the county prepares another search for an administrator — the council forced out previous administrator Ashley Jacobs 18 months after her first day — highlights the distrust and philosophical split among the 11-person council. It’s also the second time the council has used McFadden’s services during an administrator search.
Council member Stu Rodman first broached the idea of hiring McFadden at the council’s previous meeting on Jan. 11. Flewelling immediately resigned as parliamentarian.
Flewelling and fellow council members Chris Hervochon, Logan Cunningham and York Glover voted against hiring McFadden.
Flewelling said he fears that McFadden was hired to “aid” a group of council members to hire a new administrator that’s “amenable to them” by quelling dissent. Asked which council members he was referring to, Flewelling said “at least the chairman.”
“It’s interesting that the parliamentarian appears to just be working for the chairman and not for all of us,” he said. “We all don’t have equal access to her. It seems to me that [some council members] intend to use parliamentary procedure as a weapon to quell debate and silence issues as opposed to its proper intent of enhancing debate.”
Asked about this, Vice Chair Paul Sommerville called it a “pretty bizarre accusation.” He said Passiment is making “some changes” to council procedures and he thinks “it’s all for the better.”
As for McFadden’s salary, Sommerville said, “She’s very good. I think that’s the going rate for a professional lawyer.”
Passiment said McFadden’s hiring has “nothing to do” with the county’s search for an administrator.
‘Bad look for the public’
In a July 2018 meeting during the contentious search for a permanent administrator to replace Gary Kubic, then-county attorney Tom Keaveny announced the county had hired McFadden as parliamentarian.
Documents obtained by The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette show that before that meeting, Rodman orchestrated a detailed plan to hire former interim administrator Josh Gruber for the job, thwarting a public voting process. Pay stubs obtained by the newspapers show that Keaveny, Sommerville and former council member Jerry Stewart met with McFadden prior to the meeting.
During that meeting, described by some council members as “bizarre,” the council voted to hire Gruber as permanent administrator, then quickly rescinded the vote. Gruber had already left county employment to become the Town of Hilton Head Island’s assistant town manager.
Ultimately, the council offered the position to the administrator in Glynn County, Georgia, Alan Ours, who rejected the offer two hours later.
Hervochon, who was not on council in 2018 but was in the audience at the meeting, addressed his concerns about hiring McFadden earlier this month.
“The last time we had this particular individual as parliamentarian, it came out of nowhere,” he said. “It was a very contentious meeting. I think this a bad look for the public, and I’m curious as to what is driving the need for this now, especially because we’re going to be embarking on an administrator search.”
Flewelling, asked if he thought council might try again to hire Gruber as administrator, said, “I think that’s a distinct possibility. I don’t have any evidence of that, but it comes to my mind.”
McFadden’s contract
The county’s contract with McFadden, approved Monday night, highlights four reasons for the hire:
- Robert’s Rules of Order states that if a member of council serves as parliamentarian, that member may not, in “certain instances,” vote on matters, and it is “desirable” that all members of council vote on all matters.
- To give council “full confidence in the accuracy and authoritativeness” of Passiment’s recommendations.
- To give council confidence that Passiment’s advice and recommendations are “unbiased” and not influenced by a preferred vote’s outcome.
- To ensure that council is in “full compliance” with South Carolina laws.
McFadden, according to her biography, is a professional registered parliamentarian with the National Association of Parliamentarians.
Called Tuesday, she said she teaches for the South Carolina County Association, the South Carolina Municipal Association and has served as a parliamentarian for the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic National Convention since 1996.
McFadden said the county hired her to be a lawyer and parliamentarian. She said she will serve as parliamentarian both during and before meetings in compliance with the council’s rules and procedures.
She declined to answer questions about who contacted her about the job and when, citing attorney-client privilege. McFadden added that she didn’t know anything about the county’s upcoming administrator search and that it “will come up as they want it to come up in their meetings.”
Administrator search
Beaufort County’s upcoming search for a permanent administrator to replace Jacobs comes on the heels of the Town of Hilton Head Island’s search for a permanent town manager. Despite Hilton Head’s assertions that the search would be transparent and open to the public, the council used back channels and private discussions to choose Bluffton Town Manager Marc Orlando for the job.
On Monday, County Council Chair Passiment briefly addressed Hilton Head’s search, calling it “problematic.” He asked council members how they would like to move forward with the search for a county administrator.
In response, several elected officials, including Flewelling, Rodman and Alice Howard, said the council needed to hammer out the details of the search in executive session.
Flewelling added that he was “all for” using a national search firm to look for a viable candidate.
Council member Glover asked that the council use its upcoming retreat to discuss next steps for the search. The council’s retreat will be held virtually Tuesday through Thursday.
Passiment mentioned the immediate need to look for a permanent administrator. “Now is the time to begin the search,” he said. “This is the appropriate time that people would be looking to move and going through the process and procedure.”
