The City of Myrtle Beach eliminated DEI department. Is it in name only or an actual purge?
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Did the City of Myrtle Beach do away with their DEI department, or was it simply a name change, as a former mayor alleged?
Former Myrtle Beach Mayor Mark McBride posted on Facebook on Friday saying Myrtle Beach, without official council action, changed the department’s name.
“President Trump is changing the times, but liberal local cities are going to fight & simple change the D.E.I. name,” McBride’s post said.
The Wayback Machine, a digital archive, shows that the DEI department was listed on the city’s website for at least three years before being removed sometime in December 2024. Today, the url still says DEI, but the page no longer says DEI but the community engagement office.
Kelvin Waites was hired in 2022 to be the director of DEI for the City of Myrtle Beach. He was listed as recently as Dec. 10, 2024, as the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion director, and on the next archive date of Dec. 23, 2024, he was then listed as the director of Community Engagement.
The city spokesperson said Monday that Waites was promoted to lead the new department two months prior, in October of 2024.
Over the phone on Monday morning, Waites refused to answer any questions. He said all questions must go through the City’s public information office. In previous Sun News reports, the city has no written policy that says officials cannot speak to the media. That story was provided to Waites via email.
The DEI department is no longer listed on the city’s website. It’s unclear when the page and the word “DEI” were scrubbed and replaced with the new community engagement department verbiage.
A 2022 City-produced short YouTube video of Waites “introducing DEI,” and the work being done has also been seemingly scrubbed from public consumption. The video is now “unlisted,” which means it’s not searchable or listed on the official City YouTube channel. The DEI video can only be accessed with a direct link, here’s the direct link.
Myrtle Beach is the first government agency in the state that appears to have quietly changed the name of their DEI office, Communications Director Paul Bowers, for the American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina, said.
“It looks to be a symbolic gesture, but it is a symbolic gesture of retreat,” Bowers said. “These are scary times, and it’s understandable that people would be fearful.”
The city spokesperson, Patrick Lloyd, responded via email Monday, citing that the city still values inclusiveness while admitting that the new job of community engagement director filled by Waites was never publicly advertised or posted. The position, created in October, is now over the human resources department at the city, which would be responsible for job postings, job descriptions and ensuring fair hiring practices.
“One of the primary goals of the city has always been to foster an inclusive place for everyone: our employees, citizens, businesses and visitors. That focus will not change,”Lloyd wrote in an email. “We decided to restructure Kelvin’s position not because we’re trying to change our goal of being inclusive but to stay consistent with these goals while being more efficient in our operations and management.”
It’s unclear who the “we” refers to in the official statement.
Regarding efficiency, Waites was already one of the highest-paid city officials and in 2024 and was earning $154,731.20 as the Diversity Equity and Inclusion director. Regarding management, according to DEI best practices, a job should be publicly posted and have a description that refrains from using industry or gender-specific language to be fair for candidates from all backgrounds.
Lloyd said the City’s HR Director, Kathy Berlinghoff, has the job description and salary information and will provide it on Tuesday.
Waites’s new salary is $167,460.80, according to a Tuesday afternoon email from city paralegal Agatha Puleo.
This story was originally published January 28, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
