Big changes in Beaufort County. Passiment is out as Howard wins 6-5 to lead council
In a narrow 6-5 vote, Alice Howard was elected as the first new council leader for Beaufort County since 2020. Many in attendance applauded the selection and, after the sixth and deciding vote from District 11’s Tom Reitz was announced, Reitz pointed out from the dais toward the public sitting in the chambers and said, “that’s for you.”
Howard, the District 4 councilwoman, represents more than 17,000 residents in the Beaufort and Port Royal areas.
Tab Tabernik, District 6 councilwoman will join her as vice chair. The pair will serve in these positions for the next two years. The six votes from David Bartholomew, Howard, Tabernik, Logan Cunningham, Paula Brown and Reitz, placed Howard one vote ahead of Joe Passiment, who has served as chairman for the council for the past four years.
Passiment was originally elected as chair in March 2020 after Stu Rodman’s resignation from the position.
After Gerald Dawson, District 1; York Glover, District 3; and Cunningham, District 7 took their oaths of office, County Administrator Michael Moore called on the council for chair nominations.
Bartholomew nominated Howard and Larry McElynn, the previous vice chairman, nominated Passiment, citing his “experience, talent, drive, focus and discipline” to address the issues the county will face in the next two years.
Howard thanked the previous chair and vice chair and said she looked forward to the next two years.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Howard said after accepting the gavel.
After being elected unanimously for vice chair, Tabernik said, “I am hoping my next two [years] are going to be really great once we take this storm cloud off our head and we work together as a group. We are a body of 11 elected to represent 200,000 people, and we need to set our focus on doing that together.”
Howard and Tabernik have served on the Beaufort County Council since 2015 and 2023, respectively.
Today’s tight vote marks new era
It’s been a tumultuous five years for the council since Chairman Stu Rodman resigned amid a flurry of controversies in March 2020. Passiment was initially elected to complete Rodman’s term as chair and was subsequently reelected twice in 2021 and 2023. Passiment was the council chairman for County Administrator Eric Greenway’s time in office. Greenway’s tenure ended with the council firing him in September of 2023 for alleged misdeeds while in office. The former administrator remains under investigation by state and local authorities.
Today’s vote marks a significant shift in oversight of the county as it will have its first new council leader in more than four years. The Passiment era coincided with an era of significant population growth for the county, and he led the council to address the growing pains in infrastructure that comes with more people needing county services.
In November, voters decided against approving a penny tax that some county leaders said was critical for needed road and bridge upgrades and repairs. The main reason discussed among county voters was the lack of transparency and loss of confidence in the leadership of the council at the time.
The beginning of the Howard era will be closely watched by residents to see if the commitment to open government can become the standard for Beaufort County.
This story was originally published January 2, 2025 at 12:46 PM.
