After nationwide search, local candidate chosen to be Beaufort’s new city manager

Scott Marshall — a top Beaufort County employee — has been named Beaufort’s new city manager after a nationwide search to replace retiring Bill Prokop.

Council members voted 5-0 Tuesday to hire Marshall, who was one of three finalists for the job. The others were Reece Bertholf, Beaufort’s deputy city manager, and Matthew DeWitt, the city manager for the City of Newberry, South Carolina.

“This is a job I’ve wanted to compete for for a long time,” Marshall told The Beaufort Gazette and Island Packet after the vote, noting he has lived in Beaufort for almost 14 years.

Smart growth, economic development and transparency, Marshall said, will be the top issues he will be dealing with when he takes over sometime in January.

Marshall’s multiple leadership roles and job experience made him stand out, Mayor Stephen Murray said. The city and Marshall are still negotiating details of the employment contract, so what he’ll be paid and his exact start date was not available Tuesday evening. He is expected to begin work in mid-January.

With Bertholf as deputy city manager and Marshall as city manager, Murray said the city will have one of the “most dynamic” leadership teams in the region.

Marshall is a Danville, Virginia, native, and a retired U.S. Air Force officer who is currently Beaufort County’s human resources director. He previously served as executive director of Beaufort County Board of Elections and Voter Registration and director of the county’s Parks and Leisure Services.

Marshall resigned as Bluffton’s interim town manager in May 2021 after he was passed over for the permanent job but said not getting the position wasn’t the reason. He had served as deputy city manager since 2015 and applied for Bluffton’s top job after the departure of former Town Manager Marc Orlando, who later was hired as Hilton Head’s town manager.

Marshall described his leadership style as “very personal and involved,” adding, “That’s the kind of community that Beaufort is.”

The city did a national search after Prokop announced in September that he was retiring in January. It received 23 applications. Murray called the search a “robust process” and noted that hiring a city manager is one of the most important decisions the council makes.

The city manager, who reports to the City Council, is responsible for overseeing day-to-day operations of the city, a $28 million budget and long-term strategic planning. The hiring decision comes as $50 million in approved infrastructure projects are commencing or about to, and as the city wrestles with growth, a shortage of affordable housing, attracting police officers and fine tunes its design standards.

City Council members, who have met several times in closed session in to discuss the hiring, held one final executive session Tuesday before reconvening to a public meeting.