North Myrtle Beach Faces Challenges in City Leadership Amid Transparency Concerns

North Myrtle Beach in the Spotlight: A Shaky Transition in City Leadership

Things have been pretty heated in North Myrtle Beach lately. If you haven’t heard, the city has been in a bit of a pickle with their city manager situation. Just a few weeks ago, the city council made headlines when they removed their city manager, Mike Mahaney, and had him sign a confidentiality agreement regarding the end of his employment. To add fuel to the fire, the council has denied several Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, which some legal experts claim is against the law.

The Importance of Transparency

It’s no secret that transparency is crucial when it comes to public service. After all, the decisions these officials make affect all of us here in North Myrtle Beach. Legal expert Taylor Smith from the South Carolina Press Association has weighed in on the matter. He pointed out that the council’s refusal to provide information under the FOIA requests doesn’t seem to follow the legal guidelines. According to him, if a city wants to hold back information, they have to follow the law that allows for certain exemptions—by redacting sensitive information rather than simply saying “no” across the board.

Diving Deeper into the Denials

In fact, two separate FOIA requests for Mahaney’s personnel file were submitted about a month apart; both were denied. The reason given? That it was a “personal nature” issue, which they claimed would lead to an “unreasonable invasion of personal privacy.” However, it’s hard not to raise an eyebrow at that justification, especially when Mahaney’s salary (a whopping $253,010.42) and contract details were disclosed.

The new acting city manager, Ryan Fabbri, also faced similar FOIA requests, and the city cited the same reason to keep his personnel file under wraps. Curious minds discovered that Fabbri makes $130,000, but that’s about all the information that came out. Attempting to get more information, an email sent to Fabbri on October 22, asking for his personnel file, went unanswered as of this past Thursday morning. Talk about being left in the dark!

Text Messages and More Denials

But the drama doesn’t stop there. A FOIA request was submitted looking for text messages involving Mahaney from city council members and Fabbri, among others. What was received? Just five unclear screenshots of texts with no senders identified and certainly lacking important details like dates. When another request was made for who sent those texts, it got a partial denial. The city cited again that sharing names and numbers would infringe on personal privacy rights, despite a strong push from several legal experts who believe public employees’ communications are fair game.

The Big Picture

These events have left many folks in North Myrtle Beach asking questions. It’s important to remember that when it comes to public officials, their communications and actions are often part of the public record. While Mahaney was put on paid administrative leave starting on September 19 and eventually led to a paid resignation agreement of over $300,000 just last month, many residents feel they deserve more clarity on the situation and its ramifications for our city.

As it stands, there is still a request pending with the city for a copy of Mahaney’s resignation letter. It’s a waiting game now, and we’ll be watching closely as events unfold in North Myrtle Beach. After all, we all want to ensure our local government operates as transparent as possible for the well-being of our beloved community.