Top three candidates for Horry County administrator announced

The search for Horry County Administrator is narrowed down to the final three candidates.

Horry County Council Chairwoman, Liz Gilland, announced the finalists from her office Wednesday afternoon.

A search company, The Mercer Group, completed the search for the county and narrowed it down to 12 hopefuls. The search for a new administrator was expected to cost close to $40,000, but it ended up costing around $15,000.

The Sun News reports that Gilland said she would not vote for a female candidate and asked The Mercer Group to remove any females from the search. None of the 12 prospects that Mercer decided on were female.

After Mercer presented the 12 finalists, Horry County Council then interviewed five candidates.

The final three candidates are:

• John Weaver: The interim administrator for Horry County and former Horry County Attorney. If he does not get the full-time position, he plans on returning to his role as County Attorney.
• Terry Stewart: Currently serves as City Manager of Cape Coral, FL.
• Duncan Ballantyne: The County Manager of Martin County, FL.

The three finalists will have their final interviews on Nov. 16. A decision is expected soon after that, and council hopes to have a new county administrator started by January.

The county administrator position became available when Danny Knight, who served for about 10 years, left to be the director of Horry County Solid Waste Authority.