Beaufort County Sheriff on public audit and ongoing frustration: “I wish we had this months ago”

Frustrating is perhaps the best description for Beaufort County Sheriff PJ Tanner's interactions with the Beaufort County Council this summer. On Tuesday, it was striking that he didn't mince his words when discussing the long-awaited release of the county-commissioned spending and contract audit, saying he “wish we'd had this months ago.”

His comments came a day after the council voted unanimously (11-0) to release the report to his office and other law enforcement agencies — and more than a year after the public was notified of the criminal investigation into County Administrator Eric Greenway.

The council's unanimous decision Monday evening to release the report to Tanner followed several attempts by three council members to obtain the report since it was submitted in written form in mid-June.

Finally, after numerous requests

In July, Tanner said he and his office had requested the report three times but were stonewalled by county elected officials. The report, prepared by an outside law firm, detailed contracts, purchases and other financial matters. The six-page summary also included the sentence: “There was no evidence of criminal activity.” This made Tanner question who at a law firm specializing in municipal and civil litigation had the expertise to reach that conclusion.

Tanner's concerns about the matter led him to urge the City Council to provide him with a copy.

“They voted on it last night,” Tanner said Tuesday. “At some point, they finally realized that everyone was convinced it was the right thing to do. I'm glad they got to this point. It took them long enough to get there.”

“If they had done this sooner, the taxpayers of this county probably would have saved about $400,000. They wouldn't have had to hand all this stuff over to a law firm for analysis and secrecy,” Tanner said Tuesday.

Tanner confirmed he received the report Tuesday afternoon. He said it will likely take about two weeks for him to have an idea of ​​its contents. If the sheriff and other law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation conclude that the report contains no evidence of criminal activity, Tanner said he sees no problem with releasing the report.

Is the Council misleading the public?

“Being misled by a council member is the best example of how and why Duffie (Stone, the 14th District Solicitor) and I have felt such a level of frustration with the county for over a year,” Tanner said.

He disagreed with a comment made by Councilman Logan Cunningham, who claimed during Monday night's meeting that the sheriff's office had not shared information with the council about the ongoing criminal investigation into Greenway. Cunningham said, “We found out something in the newspaper before we even heard about it when this whole thing started. It was in the newspaper before we knew about it because law enforcement didn't tell us,” he said.

Tanner hit back on Tuesday, saying: “To suggest that council only learned about the Greenway investigation through the media is utter madness, as there were ongoing problems and council was involved months before our report was released in July.” He also said he had politely called council leader Joe Passiment and his deputy Larry McElynn to inform them of the criminal investigation before going public on July 3 last year.

“It's not my fault that the council's leadership doesn't include other council members,” Tanner said, raising the possibility that Passiment and McElynn may be withholding important information from other council members.

In a phone conversation on Tuesday afternoon, Cunningham clarified his position.

“I didn't mean to take aim at the sheriff,” he said. “I just wanted to say they have to follow protocols, and that's what we do on the County Council. It's not about being non-transparent, it's about following the rules that are in place to make sure we do everything right. I'm sure the sheriff had to do the exact same thing.”

Cunningham explained that during the Greenway investigation, the city council asked the sheriff's office for details to determine if a hostile work environment existed, but never received a response.

Is the Council cooperating?

The sheriff explained his observations from the July 2023 phone call with Passiment and McElynn, saying it was notable because the two did not ask many questions.

“Given that phone call and their lack of curiosity, it was obvious that they were already deeply immersed in things that they knew were wrong. So they were neither shocked nor curious,” Tanner said.

Passiment confirmed Tuesday that the call took place, but said he could not recall the details of the conversation. However, he said he had informed the rest of the council about the investigation. Cunningham could not recall whether he ever received that information.

Tanner said only the four newly elected council members have reached out to him and asked for cooperation. Those four are Tom Reitz, Paula Brown, David Bartholomew and Tab Tabernik. Reitz, Brown and Bartholomew are often overruled by the other eight council members when they push for more transparency.

“These four are the only ones who have ever asked a question of any kind,” he said.