Conflict of interest stops Loris fire chief from taking city council seat; special election set for March

A special Loris City Council election will be held in March after the candidate who received the most votes in last month’s race stepped down amid concerns that his volunteer job would create a conflict of interest.

Jerry Hardee, the city’s fire chief, was forced to choose between serving on City Council or working with the department he’s helped for more than 40 years.

“I’ve been chief [for] 23 years,” Hardee said. “That’s not something I just wanted to walk away from.”

As a volunteer chief, Hardee does not collect a salary, but he is compensated based on each call he responds to. City Council determines the amount of that pay. The council also approves the size of the fire department and appoints the chief.

Before he filed to run, Hardee said he checked with local election officials and was assured he could serve as chief of the volunteer department and as a councilman.

That, however, wasn’t true.

Michael Battle, the city’s attorney, asked the state Attorney General’s Office whether the fire chief could occupy a council seat. In a Dec. 16 opinion, Assistant Attorney General Anne Marie Crosswell concluded that holding both jobs would violate state law.

“It is our belief that a court would find simultaneous service as a Fire Chief for the City of Loris or as a member of the City of Loris’ Volunteer Fire Department would create a master-servant conflict of interest,” Crosswell wrote.

Hardee said he learned of the legal problem during the campaign, but by that time it was too late to remove his name from the ballot.

In the Dec. 1 election, he received 255 votes – the most of any of the six candidates.

“I led the ticket,” he said.

Peggy Keefer, chairwoman of the Loris Municipal Election Commission, said that when Hardee filed for the seat he was informed of a city policy that said the fire chief could not serve on council. However, she said, filing for the election happened before the city hired Battle as its attorney and there were some legal questions that the staff couldn’t answer.

“He was aware of the ordinance,” she said. “[But] we didn’t know who could enforce it. … We’ve just had a lot of issues that needed to be dealt with. And at the time, we didn’t have an attorney.”

The city’s election season has seen other drama as well. The mayor’s race was decided by one vote.

“It’s been quite a year for elections,” Keefer said.

The special election will be held March 29. Filing for the seat opens at noon Thursday and will close at the same time on Jan. 29.

Despite the frustration of the election, Hardee said he’s content with just being the fire chief.

“It was tough to walk away,” he said. “A lot of people out there had no problem with me doing both, but I didn’t really want to sit there and spend money and defy the state statute. ... I’m happy where I’m at anyway.”

This story was originally published January 15, 2016 at 6:40 PM with the headline "Conflict of interest stops Loris fire chief from taking city council seat; special election set for March."