Chairman: Horry administrator’s lawyer says Eldridge is ready to negotiate his resignation

Horry County Administrator Chris Eldridge has agreed to enter negotiations for his resignation, according to an email from Horry County Chairman Johnny Gardner.

Gardner confirmed to The Sun News he sent an email to county leaders Monday saying he spoke with Eldridge’s attorney and was informed he is willing to start the negotiations over the next couple weeks.

“The most important thing for our administrator form of government is that the administrator and the chairman have a good working relationship,” Gardner said to The Sun News. “We haven’t had that in three months.”

Even if the Council voted to not extend Eldridge’s contract, there still would be the need for negotiations, Gardner added.

“We’re going to negotiate in good faith,” he said.

These negotiations could avoid a potential lawsuit against Horry County from Eldridge, Gardner said in the email.

The news comes hours before a special meeting where the county Council was expected to discuss Eldridge’s employment. This meeting would have been the third special meeting called to discuss the administrator’s future, which has been the topic of discussion for months after he requested the S.C. Law Enforcement Division investigate an alleged extortion claim against Gardner.

“I say if we take this item off the agenda tonight, we might avoid additional embarrassment for the county and move quicker to an amicable resolution,” Gardner wrote in the email.

The special meeting was planned to continue, but only to talk about the S.C. Department of Transportation contract for I-73 and to discuss entering into a confidentiality agreement with the City of Myrtle Beach.

Eldridge did not respond to a request for comment.

Gardner’s email said while there may be some technicalities removing the discussion from the agenda, there will not be any discussion or action taken. Typically it takes 24-hour notice to change the agenda.

If Eldridge does resign, it would possibly be the end of a months-long political debate about how Horry County would move forward. However, if a solution is not reached, Gardner’s email said a discussion regarding Eldridge’s employment will be placed on a future agenda. Still, Gardner believes negotiating is the best way forward for all parties.

For some in Horry County, there is still the question of Horry County Attorney Arrigo Carotti’s employment. Carotti wrote the leaked memo detailing what he knew about dinner between Gardner, his associate Luke Barefoot and two representatives from the Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corporation.

On Friday, emails were published showing Carotti offered advice to SLED investigators as to which questions to ask Gardner and Barefoot. The Sun News acquired the emails through a Freedom of Information Act request.

At the beginning of his email, Carotti said his memo was an accurate depiction of what he knew. He added he had no opinions or drawn any conclusions as to if the County Chairman had any wrongdoings. He told investigators what subjects he thought merited further investigation.

“I heard in the Watergate Era, Deep Throat told Woodward and Bernstein to just follow the money. It is ludicrous to believe that either Chris Eldridge or I had any motive whatsoever in all of this other than reporting what we had been told to his bosses and my client, Carotti wrote in a Jan. 8 email.

“Your report should not come back as undetermined, inconclusive, or unfounded. The least it should say is that the matter warrants further investigation.”

He encouraged investigators to look into relationships between Gardner, Barefoot, political consultant Donald Smith and blogger Paul Gable.

The SLED report came up with no evidence of extortion.

Despite the calls from the public and threats from Council members regarding Carotti’s future employment, Council does not have the power to directly fire Carotti but could instruct the administrator to do so. At the January meeting, Carotti said if he lost the faith of his clients he would resign.

“If I lose the trust of my client, I will quit. You don’t have to play any politics with me,” Carotti said.

This story was originally published March 25, 2019 at 3:15 PM.