Beaufort Co. Sheriff on released audit, continued frustration. “I wish we had this months ago”
Frustrating may be the best way to describe Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner’s interactions with Beaufort County Council throughout this summer. It was noticeable Tuesday as he did not mince words when discussing the long-awaited release of the county’s commissioned audit of spending and contracts, saying he “wish(ed) we had this months ago.”
His comments came the day after the council voted unanimously 11-0 to release the report to his office and other law enforcement - and more than a year after the public was notified of the criminal investigation into County Administrator Eric Greenway.
Monday night’s unanimous vote by council to release the report to Tanner came after multiple attempts by three members of the council to get the report released since it was delivered in written form in mid-June.
Finally, after multiple requests
In July, Tanner said that he and his office requested the report three separate times only to be stonewalled by the county’s elected officials. The report, created by an outside law firm, detailed contracts, purchases and other financial matters. The six-page summary also carried the phrase,“there was no evidence of criminal activity.” This left Tanner to wonder who, in a law firm specializing in municipal and civil litigation, has the expertise to make that conclusion.
Tanner’s concerns on that matter led him to push council to provide him with a copy.
“Now they voted on it last night,” Tanner said Tuesday. “Finally, there was a revelation at some point that all of them were convinced it was the right thing to do. I’m glad they got to that point. It took them long enough.”
“If they would have done that early on, it would have probably saved the taxpayers in this county about $400,000. They would not have had to give all of this stuff to a law firm to go in and analyze and secrecy,” Tanner said Tuesday
Tanner confirmed he had the report Tuesday afternoon. He said it would likely take about two weeks before he had an idea of its content. If the sheriff and the other law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation find that the report contains no evidence of criminal activity, Tanner said he sees no problem in releasing the report.
Is council misleading the public?
“To be misled by a member of Council is the best example of how and why Duffie (Stone, the 14th circuit Solicitor) and I have had the level of frustration that we’ve had with the County for over a year,” Tanner said.
He took issue with a comment from council member Logan Cunningham who, during Monday night’s meeting, alleged that the sheriff’s office did not share with the council information regarding the ongoing Greenway criminal investigation. Cunningham said “We found out something in the papers before it even came to us when the whole thing started. That was in the papers before we knew about it because law enforcement didn’t release it to us,” he said.
Tanner fired back Tuesday saying, “To say that council only found out about the Greenway investigation through the media is complete insanity because there’s been ongoing issues and the council has been involved in that dated back months before we released a report in July.” He also explained that he had given Council Chair Joe Passiment and Vice Chair Larry McElynn a courtesy call informing them of the criminal investigation before going public on July 3 of last year.
“I can’t help it if the leadership on council is not including other members of council,” Tanner said raising the issue that Passiment and McElynn may be keeping key information from other members of council.
Speaking Tuesday afternoon by phone, Cunningham clarified his stance.
“My point behind that wasn’t a jab at the sheriff,” he said. “It was saying that they have protocols to follow, and we do as well on county council. It’s not about not being transparent, it’s about following the rules in place to make sure that we do everything properly. I’m sure the sheriff had to do the exact same thing.”
Cunningham explained that in the wake of Greenway’s investigation, council had asked the sheriff’s office for details so they could determine if there was a hostile work environment, but never received an answer.
Is the council cooperating?
The sheriff elaborated on his observations from the July 2023 phone call with Passiment and McElynn saying it was notable because the two didn’t ask many questions.
“It was obvious, based on that phone call and the lack of curiosity on their part, that they were already deep in looking at things that they knew were wrong, that’s why they weren’t shocked, they weren’t inquisitive,” Tanner said.
Passiment confirmed Tuesday that the phone call had happened, but said he didn’t remember the details of the conversation. However, he did say he informed the rest of the council of the investigation. Cunningham couldn’t recall if he ever received that information.
Tanner said only the four newly-elected council members have come to him looking to cooperate. Those four are Tom Reitz, Paula Brown, David Bartholomew and Tab Tabernik. Reitz, Brown and Bartholomew are often outvoted by the other eight members of the council when they push for more transparency.
“Those four are the only ones that have ever asked a question of any kind,” he said.
