Cayce mayor brought her own lawyer amid council-led misconduct investigation
As city council members in Cayce launched a misconduct investigation in the longtime mayor, she brought her own attorney, according to a report released by the city late Thursday.
Months of tension and bickering in Cayce’s city hall boiled over this month when city council members launched an investigation into alleged misconduct by the mayor after the city’s longtime clerk filed a complaint. During the third-party investigation, in which outside attorney Ryan Hicks spoke with several former and current city employees, Mayor Elise Partin brought legal counsel.
It’s unclear when Partin retained attorney James Smith or to what extent he was involved. The report said he was involved in the interview of Partin by Hicks. Partin could not be reached by a reporter with questions Friday.
The investigation, which was launched following an altercation between Partin and city clerk Mendy Corder, revealed that members of the city council reached out to staff about issues, in violation of Cayce’s ordinances that require them to communicate through the city manager. Complaints of overreach have been alleged by former city manager Jim Crosland.
The report did not name Corder, but listed her only as Employee 1. Based on the information listed in the report from the council meeting, the altercation was between Corder and Partin.
But the issues go back years, Hicks wrote in his report to council. Since at least the 1960s, Cayce had an office for the mayor. After Partin was elected in 2008, she forewent having an office, but the mayor’s regular involvement in city affairs had long been the norm.
“Like most things, individuals become accustomed to conduct, and it thereafter begins to grow and expand; this is what has happened within the City of Cayce. For years, the Mayor, through no fault of her own, was empowered to communicate with employees directly,” Hicks wrote in his report.
What led to the investigation?
A tense moment between Corder and Partin during an Oct. 7 council meeting snowballed into a bigger argument after the council adjourned.
As the meeting wrapped for the night, Partin and Corder got into an argument, the report said. Partin accused Corder of “giving council an out” on the vote, Corder said. Corder told the mayor she “didn’t recognize” her and that she was “making excuses for her behavior.”
Corder then alleged, the report said, that Partin threw a printed resolution at her. At some point, when he realized the conversation was escalating, the city’s attorney Will Dillard, stepped in.
Partin’s version was “substantially similar, but under a different context,” according to the report. She claimed she didn’t throw the resolution, but that she slid the papers down the dias. She said she perceived the interaction as an attack on her.
The next day, Corder filed a complaint with the city’s human resources department alleging a hostile work environment. On Oct. 9, two days after the council meeting, Dillard, the city’s attorney, reached out to a separate law firm to conduct an internal investigation.
But Mayor Pro-Tem Tim James said the push to investigate the complaint was in an effort to get to the root of the problem and address it.
“This didn’t happen overnight. This pattern, that’s being reflected in the report from the mayor’s actions are something that’s just culminated over years and years and then come to a tipping point,” James told The State, when reached by phone Friday.
What did the investigation find?
Hicks, the attorney hired by the city to conduct the investigation, interviewed city council members, including Partin, top city leadership and a handful of current and former employees. He also reviewed texts, emails and other documents, his report detailed.
One of the key findings was that members of council, including Partin, reached out directly to staff members for city-matters. Cayce’s ordinances require that, unless asking a question, council members should deal directly with the city manager and shouldn’t direct staff.
When reached by phone Friday, Councilman Phil Carter denied going directly to staff unless he’d been given permission by the city manager. Carter said council shouldn’t allow that because it’s “not our protocol.”
The report noted that there’d been a long history of council members, including Partin, reaching out directly to staff members with city concerns. Emails between some of the city’s top administrators and Partin, obtained by The State through a public records request, showed mundane asks usually related to citizen concerns or questions about upcoming meetings.
Hicks wrote that city employees, current and former, acknowledged being contacted by both Partin and other council members, though the report did not list specific council members, but said more communications came from Partin.
“These employees reiterated concerns from the complaint in that they often felt as though they were being placed in precarious situations between Council, especially recently,” the report read. “Some employees indicated being uncomfortable with the manner (i.e, delivery) in which the Mayor communicated, but not all; no concerns were raised about the delivery of any other current council members outside of the communication(s) occurring.”
How did Cayce get here?
Partin was elected as mayor in 2008. In the years leading up to the 2021 election, council seemingly worked well together and had a similar vision for the city of 14,000.
In 2021, Councilman Hunter Sox was elected, beating out incumbent Ann Bailey-Robinson. Shortly after that election, a member of the city’s Historical Museum Commission, who ultimately resigned, was accused by a city staffer of making racist statements on election day while out at the polls in support of Sox, according to previous reporting.
Sox, James and Carter voted against removing the commissioner, with Partin and then-councilman James “Skip” Jenkins voting in favor. Numerous council members told The State in 2024 that the incident sparked ongoing tensions on council.
When Councilman Byron Thomas unseated Jenkins in 2023, things only escalated. Over the last two years, fault lines have formed between Partin and the four councilmen and the group has argued over everything from where to send accommodations tax funds to which members should sit on certain boards.
What happens next?
After a presentation of his findings was given by Hicks at an Oct. 27 council meeting, the four councilmen, with Partin absent, voted to hold a council workshop in January, after this November’s election.
Hicks suggested that the council members adopt a code of conduct to hold themselves accountable. Partin has publically pushed for a code of conduct on her social media pages.
Councilman Byron Thomas said he’s hopeful that the work sessions will give the council a chance to “sit down and figure out what direction we’re taking the city of Cayce in.” Thomas and other council members were hopeful that the report would give them an opportunity to move the city forward.
This story was originally published October 31, 2025 at 10:00 AM.
