Fact check: Myrtle Beach City Manager John Pedersen’s contract

Every year Myrtle Beach City Manager John Pedersen’s contract is reviewed and city council decides if they want to keep him in his current position based on his performance.

This year, the council has not reviewed the contract yet, raising questions from mayoral candidate Mark McBride that Pedersen was currently working without a contract. In a public meeting Monday morning, McBride called for Pedersen to be fired for “operating without a contract.”

Pedersen also has come under fire from McBride for his involvement in the purchase of the Superblock properties. McBride claims that the properties were bought with money that the city did not have budgeted.

“They do go through the review process and will eventually vote on that,” said Mark Kruea, public information officer for the city. “They will take up his contract and make an official vote on that, but they haven’t done so yet.”

In the absence of a vote, Kruea said that Pedersen’s contract will continue to operate as normal and that he is not currently operating without a contract.

Currently, Pedersen’s contract operates on a year-to-year basis as it has since he was hired Nov. 3, 2014. However, the contract does not have to be reviewed at a specific time, meaning that the contract does not have to be voted on by Nov. 3 each year.

“The agreement itself, that provision have very little meaning,” Pedersen said. “I serve at the pleasure of council. The idea is just that it’s a contract and they’ll review it annually. They don’t have to do it on that annual date. Council will at some point ask to assess my performance and decide whether they want to retain me.”

Pedersen said that he can be terminated if city council votes him out of his position, or if he resigns.

This story was originally published November 2, 2017 at 2:01 PM with the headline "Fact check: Myrtle Beach City Manager John Pedersen’s contract."