North Myrtle Beach calls special meeting to potentially remove city manager
With just over 24 hours to go, the City of North Myrtle Beach sent out an email announcing a special meeting the next day.
The primary agenda items for the Sept. 19 special meeting revolve around council approving a resolution to put current city manager Mike Mahaney on paid administrative leave, pending their final decision to remove him from that role based on South Carolina Code § 5-13-70.
Attempts to reach Mahaney Wednesday afternoon were unsuccessful, with his office phone going straight to voicemail.
Mahaney has worked for the city since he was unanimously selected by the council for the role in 2010 and currently makes $253,000 a year.
Before getting his current job, he was previously fired from two similar positions with the city of Deerfield Beach, Florida and Nassau County, Florida, The Sun News previously reported. Mahaney told The Sun News at the time that both his past terminations were split decisions resulting from elections that brought in new leaders.
If Mahaney’s administrative leave is approved, the agenda said that current assistant city manager Ryan Fabbri will become the acting city manager.
The special meeting is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on Sept. 19, 2024 at North Myrtle Beach City Hall.
This sudden announcement from city council comes after years of controversy surrounding Mahaney’s role as North Myrtle Beach’s city manager.
How can council remove Mahaney from his job?
South Carolina Code § 5-13-70 states that “the term of employment of the manager shall be at the pleasure of the council and he shall be entitled to such compensation for his services as the council may determine.”
Under this law, if the council chooses to remove the manager, the manager must get a written statement that includes all of the reasons for the proposed removal.
According to the statute, within five days after the notice of removal is delivered, the manager has an option to file a written request for a public hearing about it with the council.
Does Mahaney have a new job in Florida lined up?
This past summer, The Sun News learned that Mahaney had applied for another job doing the same role as City Manager in City of Fernandina Beach.
“I am very proud of the team I have assembled over the last 14 years and what we have accomplished,” City Manager Mike Mahaney said in an emailed statement to The Sun News on July 16 . “In my opinion, we have changed North Myrtle Beach for the better forever.”
Alongside a written statement to The Sun News on July 16, 2024, Mahaney also attached a document that lists his 31 top accomplishments as city manager.
Some of them included building a 260-acre sports complex, developing the Christmas Lights Show, earning $1.4 million in parking fees from visitors, and managing a $208 million budget and 620 employees.
The City of Fernandina Beach has not returned The Sun News’s repeated requests for comments on the current status of Mahaney’s job application.
Reports show he wore a body camera to a ceremony
Last year, he wore the Axon device on his shirt during a Feb. 24, 2023 ceremony welcoming Pepsi Bottling Ventures to the city’s Palmetto State Industrial Park.
Later, reports said his body camera was never turned on.
When asked by a reporter at the event why he wore a police-issued body camera, he and other high-level government officials failed to provide a reason why.
“If you do a story, you can say the city manager has no comment,” Mahaney told The Sun News at the event last February.
Results from an investigation with state law enforcement
That incident followed a lengthy investigation by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division after assault allegations arose against Mahaney from a local business owner in 2022.
According to previous reporting, that May the local police department asked the state law enforcement agency to investigate Mahaney after he allegedly put his hands on Glass Bottom Kayak Tours co-owner Laura Weaver at a meeting in City Hall.
Ultimately, 15th Circuit Solicitor Jimmy Richardson said there was not enough information from the investigation to pursue criminal charges against Mahaney, causing them to drop.
“I can’t see any scenario where the State would be able to more forward with an assault and battery charge against Mahaney especially with our standard being beyond a reasonable doubt,” Richardson wrote in his November 2022 decision. “If any further details emerge, I would be happy to look at them; however, at this time, we decline prosecution.”’
Transparency issues and denying public records
Recently, The Sun News attempted to get a copy of Mahaney’s personnel file via the Freedom of Information Act.
“The information requested is exempt from disclosure pursuant to section 30-4-40(a)(2) of the Code of Laws of South Carolina because the information is of a personal nature where the public disclosure thereof would constitute an unreasonable invasion of personal privacy,” North Myrtle Beach’s email denying the request said.
That denial is a violation of state FOIA laws, according to South Carolina Press Association’s attorney Taylor Smith.
“Arguably, in the governance of a city, is no more important a figure to learn about concerning the performance of their public duties than that of a manager,” he previously told The Sun News. “Consequently, the public’s interest in the right to learn those public activities is highly frustrating when efforts to get records of their job performance are denied by the city. It is a bastardization of the understanding of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to think that it would be an unreasonable invasion of personal privacy to understand what a public employee does in the performance of their public duties.”
This story was originally published September 18, 2024 at 1:35 PM.
