Man who resigned and sued Beaufort County rehired in a newly created $123K position

Nearly a year after settling a discrimination and hostile workplace lawsuit brought by a former high-ranking employee, Beaufort County created a six-figure, director-level position reporting directly to county administrator Eric Greenway.

Greenway then hired Eric Larson, the former employee who received $40,000 as part of the settlement and someone Greenway felt close enough to that he recused himself from settlement discussions.

Since September, Larson has been the county’s new capital improvements projects director, a position overseeing and updating all county-owned facilities, infrastructure and parks. He’ll be instrumental in the county’s budget process, particularly for the multimillion dollar CIP budget.

Larson is paid $123,595 a year.

“Nothing was done inappropriately with his hiring,’ Greenway said. “Many people looked into his hiring, many people were involved in the interview process. There is nothing going on here.”

Greenway said the position was simply needed, excess money was available in the budget, and Larson was the best candidate.

Larson was Beaufort County’s environmental engineering and land management director in 2019 when he resigned, suing the county and then-administrator Ashley Jacobs. One of the claims Larson made was that he was being discriminated against for being an “older white male.”

After Jacobs was forced by a majority of County Council members to resign and replaced with Greenway, the suit was settled by Deputy County Administrator Whitney Richland for a sum of $40,000. Greenway recused himself from the discussion because of a “personal relationship.”

Greenway elaborated that the personal relationship with Larson was in part because he once worked under him but also that he considered Larson a friend at the time.

The money for Larson’s salary comes from the county General Fund, which has had an excess the past few years, Greenway said.

The new position was created because the county has a lot of facility needs and has historically been behind on maintenance for facilities the county already has, Greenway said. Some of the facilities needing maintenance are the county administration building’s roof, the MC Riley pool and the Charles Lind Brown Center, which is currently being renovated, county Public Information Officer Sarah Brock said.

“So adding the appropriate staff to make sure that we were able to get on top of that, and move building projects forward in the right way and then still be able to have the capacity to address the priorities and goals for council, as far as new improvements is something that was very important to me,” Greenway said.

Before the position was created, the duties of the CIP director were “probably spread out over multiple people,” Greenway said.

“And we didn’t do it very well,” he added. “I thought it was a good opportunity for us to gain some efficiencies by separating that out.”

Larson declined to comment on his past suit against the county, saying, “I just want to focus on my current job with the county and and the work that we’re doing.”

The biggest benefit to the new department, according to Larson, is that the Engineering Department can focus more on roads, while his team focuses on buildings and facilities.

“We took a very disorganized capital program and we’ve got it organized,” Larson said when asked what his greatest accomplishment was since rejoining the county. “And when I say organized, we know what we need to do, we know how much money we’ve got to get it done with and we’re starting to implement projects. We’re not talking about them anymore, we’re implementing.”

When asked why the county would hire someone who had recently sued it, Greenway said that Larson was the most-qualified.

“He was interviewed by an interview team,” said Greenway. “That team decided that he was the most-qualified person for the position. They recommended that I hire him and that’s what I did.”

One of the terms of the settlement with Larson was that he would remain eligible for employment, according to Greenway.

When asked whether the county often works with people who sue it, Greenway said he couldn’t think of an instance where it has happened before, but he wouldn’t rule it out in the future if circumstances were right.

Larson worked in Beaufort County for nearly six years before resigning in 2019. Between his resignation and rehiring, he served as water resources senior director for the city of Savannah and most recently, assistant county manager for Effingham County.

In his new position, Larson earns around the average salary for an assistant administrator in Beaufort County, according to The South Carolina Association of County’s 2022 Wage and Salary report. Before resigning as environmental engineering and land management director, Larson made slightly more — $125,660 annually, according to Brock.

Jacobs, administrator at the time of Larson’s resignation and a deputy county manager for Wake County since June 2021, declined to comment about Larson’s rehiring.

This story was originally published April 26, 2023 at 12:28 PM.