Westmoreland is apparent county manager front-runner

By Carey Phillips

Ken Westmoreland, president of the Greater Greer (S.C.) Development Corporation since January 2000, is still under consideration.

Sources have told The Herald that Chris Raths, town administrator for Auburn, Mass., accepted another position and did not come for his interview; Hal Mason, Shelby's assistant city manager, asked for his name to be withdrawn from consideration.

Commissioners are scheduled to meet at 5 p.m. today (Thursday), but it is not known if action will be taken on a county manager at that time. Board members have indicated that a background check, including a check of references, will be conducted before Westmoreland is offered the position.

Westmoreland took a pay cut of nearly $52,000 when he began his present position after serving nearly 10 years as Greer's city administrator, according to the Spartanburg Herald-Journal.

Shortly after Westmoreland left his job with the city, Greer officials found themselves dealing with a $1.14 million budget deficit, the newspaper reported.

According to the Herald-Journal, at least two council members expressed concern about whether they were adequately informed about the financial difficulties facing the city. They said they were especially bothered by two September 1999 transfers from a highway project to the general fund to meet the city payroll. The transfers totaled $280,000.

"The administrator should have told us we don't have the money to make payroll," city council member Joe Baldwin said in an August 2000 article. "I don't think you can take money meant to build a highway and use it for general fund purposes."

Councilman Wayne Griffin said in the same article that he did not know about the fund transfers until July 2000, and that Westmoreland should have informed council members about the moves. Westmoreland and Don Wall, who served as mayor at the time of the transfers, disputed those accounts. They said nothing was hidden and council members were informed about Greer's financial situation, according to the article.

Articles and editorials in another newspaper, The Greer Citizen, led Westmoreland to file a libel suit against that paper in December 1999. The suit alleged that the Citizen destroyed his credibility, forcing him to resign his position with Greer, the Herald-Journal reported. The suit was dropped less than a month later.

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