Beaufort City Manager Scott Marshall has had a rough year, and the release of 9,000 pages of unredacted police documents has not helped. From criticism over the city’s preparation and reaction to Hurricane Helene, to criticism over the city’s reaction to a missing child, to his partisan and inflammatory social media posts about President Trump, to numerous lawsuits against the city, the last thing Marshall needed was a slew of confidential and sensitive information being released to the public under his watch.
The most recent blunder by Scott Marshall’s city government was in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. According to FOIA.gov: “The basic function of the Freedom of Information Act is to ensure informed citizens, vital to the functioning of a democratic society.” There are nine exemptions to FOIA, information that public entities cannot make public. Exemption 7 is specific to law enforcement records:
“Protects records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes, but only to the extent that the production of such law enforcement records or information:
(A) could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings;
(B) would deprive a person of a right to a fair trial or an impartial adjudication;
(C) could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy;
(D) could reasonably be expected to disclose the identity of a confidential source, … it also protects information furnished by the confidential source;
(E) would disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions, or would disclose guidelines for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions if such disclosure could reasonably be expected to risk circumvention of the law;
(F) could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of any individual.”
According to a reporter that saw 9,000 pages of unredacted documents that were released in response to citizen’s FOIA request, the City of Beaufort released information that falls into all categories of FOIA’s Exemption 7 including Social Security Numbers, the identity of a witness to a murder, and the identities of minors and details of their forensic interviews.
Not long after the unredacted documents were released, the City of Beaufort released a statement stating the release of the documents was “inadvertent” and Scott Marshall said, “We take this matter seriously and are closely reviewing our internal procedures to prevent similar occurrences in the future.” The City’s statement points to a new software they plan to use in the future that Marshall states will “strengthen safeguards.”
With so many recent public missteps, Scott Marshall’s supervision of internal procedures in the City of Beaufort is being called into question. Many concerned citizens are looking to the City Council to fulfill their responsibility to supervise the City Manager. Along with talk around town, there is an email circulating that starts out: “Beaufort is long over due for new leadership in the city manager position.” The email goes on to provide email addresses for all members of the Beaufort City Council and asks recipients to tell Council Members: “The City Manager must resign and, if he refuses, fired by City Council.”
Citizens of Beaufort will surely be waiting to see what the City Council decides to do. Hopefully whatever decision they come to will get the City of Beaufort back on track.
