by JIM FAILE

The failure of city of Hartsville officials to notify the press and public of meetings of the city’s City Manager Search Committee tarnishes the legality of the search process and exposes it to legal challenges, the executive director of the S.C. Press Association (SCPA) said. The attorney for the press association also said the meetings were illegal.

SCPA Executive Director Bill Rogers said that because the search committee meetings violated the state’s Freedom of Information Act by failure to provide adequate notice, the search process should begin all over again.

Hartsville City Council, meanwhile, voted unanimously Tuesday to hire a professional executive recruiting firm to assist in the search and selection process.

The search committee, appointed to review applications and screen candidates, held its initial meetings without giving notification to the press as required by the S.C. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

The committee has met six times, according to city records, the first on Feb. 19 and most recently on April 12. Other meetings took place on Feb. 24, March 4, March 23 and March 30. No minutes of any of the meetings were kept, according to Sherron Skipper, clerk to city council and a member of the search committee.

The panel constitutes a public body as defined by the statute, Rogers said, and as such is required to provide at least 24 hours written notice of all of its meetings except in emergency situations.

“That was inappropriate,” Rogers said of the city’s failure to provide notice. “They must give notice, and the meetings must be open. The whole search is tainted by that, and it could be challenged in court. It also erodes public confidence in the process if the people who are making the decisions don’t understand the law well enough to follow it. The entire process should start over.”

“Each of those meetings where the city did not provide notice would have been illegal,” said SCPA attorney Jay Bender. Bender said the S.C. Supreme Court has ruled that committees that make recommendations to city councils and other public bodies are themselves public bodies and are subject to the same provisions of the FOIA as any other public body.

“I checked, and you’re right. We were supposed to notice the press, and we failed to do so,” Mayor Mel Pennington said late Wednesday after The Messenger asked him about the situation. “I’m calling to apologize on behalf of the city for our oversight.” Pennington is an ex officio member of the committee but said he only attended the panel’s first meeting.

“The only thing that we could have done is tell you we were going to meet,” said Interim City Manager Vern Myers, who also serves on the search committee. “This is a search committee. We’re talking about personnel issues, reviewing applications. The press would not have been permitted to sit in. We are required by law when we get down to three candidates to provide information on those three candidates, and we have no problem with letting the press have that information. We’re not trying to hide anything.”

The FOIA requires the release of information related to persons seriously considered for a position by requiring public bodies to make public all materials “relating to not fewer than the final three applicants under consideration for a position” except for specifically exempted materials such as tax and medical records.

“The only thing that council has done is approve a resolution to employ Coleman Lew. They will be leading the search going forward. They will be getting back to me next week with a couple of dates so that we can look at how we’re going to proceed,” Myers said.

Council agreed Tuesday during its regular meeting to hire the firm of Coleman Lew and Associates Inc. of Charlotte, N.C., to assist in the search and to screen applicants for the position. The firm specializes in top executives for key posts for businesses and other organizations.

A resolution authorizing a contract with the firm states that the firm will partner with the search committee “and assist in the recruitment, evaluation, verification and negotiations with qualified candidates.”

The city has received 83 resumes for the position, Myers said.

Council discussed contracting with the firm during a closed-door executive session at Tuesday’s meeting. The vote to approve a resolution to hire the firm came during an open public portion of the meeting after the executive session. Bender said that despite the improper search committee meetings, the fact that council’s vote came during an open session of a public meeting might make it unlikely that a court would invalidate the decision or any contract with the firm. “Because of the fact that the council voted on it publicly, a court may or may not nullify it,” he said.

Myers said the anticipated cost of hiring the firm is expected to range from $50,000 to $60,000, and he said three private sources - Coker College, the Byerly Foundation and Sonoco – have indicated a willingness to share in the total cost. He said the city’s portion of the cost is expected to be from $5,000 to $10,000. Myers emphasized that all of those figures are estimates only and that terms of any arrangements are still being negotiated. “None of that has been finalized,” he said.

Former City Manager Dr. Jim Pennington resigned in January.

Myers, former chairman of the Hartsville Planning Commission, has been serving as interim city manager since Pennington’s resignation and has told council he is willing to remain in the position until a new manager takes over.

The search committee reviewed the applications and rated them on a scale of 1 to 3 with 1 being the most acceptable based on the criteria developed by the search committee for the position and 3 being unacceptable, Myers said. “We did a first level search by the committee,” he said. He said about 21 resumes received ratings of all 1 or mostly 1.

But the panel will submit all 83 resumes to Coleman Lew for review along with the committee’s ratings, Myers said.

“All of the resumes will be given to Coleman Lew with our ratings to give them a better feel for where we’re coming from,” Myers said.

Mayor Pennington, who said he met with the search committee only at its first meeting as an ex officio meeting, said the panel after reviewing the resumes felt the review and screening process should be turned over to a professional group of recruiters. “This person could be here for the next 10 years,” he said.

“One of the things that excited me about Coleman Lew is that they are looking for leaders, not just public administrators,” the mayor said.

Coleman Lew is the same firm that helped to recruit Dr. Robert L. Wyatt to Coker College as its new president, Myers said. The college is currently using the firm in other high level personnel searches, he said.

That experience and the knowledge the firm gained about Hartsville in the process is what made the idea of hiring the firm so attractive to the city, Myers said.

“When it comes to hiring for Hartsville, a big issue is Hartsville itself,” Myers said.

Having gone through the process of screening candidates for president of the college and for other positions, the firm has gained a significant level of familiarity with the city, he said. “The Coleman Lew folks now understand Hartsville,” Myers said.

“The thought process that brought this to a head was like this: Typically, in an approach to filling a position like this, it’s a reactive process. You receive resumes and you react,” Myers said. “The second point is, we had strong indications from Coker, from Sonoco, from Byerly and from the citizens that this is a very important position for Hartsville, so let’s do the best we can to get the very best person we can.”

Myers said the Municipal Association of South Carolina has also offered to screen applicants for the position. “They know Hartsville, they understand what’s needed in a city manager. Of course, their approach will be more from a governmental side,” he said.

The City Manager Search Committee is made up of Cindy Hartley of Sonoco, Dr. Robert Wyatt of Coker College, Richard Puffer of the Byerly Foundation, former Mayor David McFarland, Sherron Skipper of the City of Hartsville, Mayor Pro Tem Johnny Andrews and Myers. Mayor Mel Pennington is an ex officio member.

The city manager’s position was advertised nationally through a number of sources, including Coker College, The Strom Thurmond Institute of Government & Public Affairs at Clemson University, Datagram through the Florida League of Cities, Nations Cities Weekly through the National League of Cities, the University of South Carolina, the University of Georgia, the S.C. Association of Counties, the N.C. League of Cities, the Municipal Association of S.C., the Alabama League of Municipalities, the local legislative delegation, local municipalities and the Pee Dee Regional Council of Governments. The closing date for applications was April 2.