Clemmons drops out of Horry County administrator race days ahead of tomorrow’s final vote

State Rep. Alan Clemmons is no longer seeking the Horry County administrator position, Council Chair Johnny Gardner said.

Gardner said Clemmons called him at the end of last week.

Clemmons previously said he would run for re-election if he wasn’t hired as the administrator. He could not be reached for comment Monday afternoon.

This leaves four finalists for the position top, non-elected position within Horry County Government. The vote to hire a new administrator will be held at the end of council’s 6 p.m. meeting on Tuesday.

The final four are Wayne Gray, Steve Gosnell, William Shanahan and Jon Caime.

Gray and Gosnell are both locals with years of experience in local governance. Shanahan and Caime have both led small South Carolina counties in the western portion of the state.

Learn more about the applicants here.

Discussion of the applicants will be done in executive session where no decision can be made. Afterwards, Horry County Council will come out of executive session for a public vote on the finalist.

While the details of how the vote will be taken hasn’t been entirely nailed down, Gardner said it will probably be done through some sort of a ballot voting system.

Once a final candidate is picked, an offer will be extended. Gardner said he hopes to give the candidate the terms of employment instead of doing a separate contract negotiation following the vote.

“To me, I would rather have everything together and make the offer. Here is the offer, here is the contract, one-year contract, at this salary, blah blah blah,” Gardner said. “That way when the person is notified, he knows exactly what he’s getting.”

Gardner said all of the final details will be steamed out ahead of tomorrow. He is open to listening to the opinions of how the human resources department and council think is the best way to take the vote and create a contract, but he doesn’t want the process to take months before a new leader is picked.

Ultimately, Gardner said all of the candidates are qualified and he is ready to work with them.

“I am the guy who has to work with the administrator, and I don’t see any reason I could not work with any of these four candidates,” Gardner said.