DHEC names second acting director, board conducts more closed-door interviews
South Carolina’s environmental health agency has named its second acting director in 17 months.
The board of the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control on Thursday named general counsel Marshall Taylor as acting director.
The board still is looking for a new director, having hired a consultant and spent 13 months searching for someone to run the state agency. The board reopened the search for Catherine Heigel’s successor after interviewing several candidates earlier this fall.
After appointing Taylor as acting director, DHEC’s board went into executive session to interview applicants who responded to the most recent job posting.
“There will be no vote or decisions made during executive session, and no decision on an executive director will be made today,” board Chairman Mark Elam said.
The board’s next scheduled meeting is set for Jan. 3.
The department received 108 applications for the post, which is expected to pay from $168,000 to $213,000 a year, The State previously reported.
Taylor succeeds interim director David Wilson, who is retiring. The DHEC veteran has been leading the agency since Heigel resigned in July 2017.
Taylor will be acting director from Dec. 29 until a new director is appointed, approved by Gov. Henry McMaster and confirmed by the state Senate. Taylor previously was acting director in 2015 before Heigel was hired.
The agency’s search for a new director has been lengthy and secretive, blacking out names on an agency sign-in sheet to prevent the media from seeing who interviewed for the job.
The agency, which employees about 3,400 workers, faces a myriad of pressing issues, from helping solve a statewide nursing shortage to resolving questions about the adequacy of the state’s dam-safety laws.
This story was originally published December 13, 2018 at 12:46 PM.
