Solid Waste Authority picks new executive director

CONWAY — The Horry County Solid Waste Authority hired County Administrator Danny Knight as its executive director Monday night.

Knight, who has been county administrator for 10 years, will begin his new duties July 1. He signed a two-year contract worth just under $150,000 annually.

“It is exciting,” he said minutes after being awarded the job. “It’s just a good organization.”

Knight was one of three finalists for the job, and Danny Hardee, board member on the authority who chaired the search committee, said he knew Knight was right for the job when he walked into the interview with two legal pads – one with short-term goals and another with long-term goals.

“You could see he really put a lot of thought and some homework into what he wanted to do,” Hardee said. “With his knowledge and expertise, we just could not see how Danny Knight would not be our choice.”

Basem Hilal, chairman of the Solid Waste Authority’s board of directors, said the choice was unanimous.

“I believe we made the right choice because of his experience, his knowledge, his education and his interest in the community,” Hilal said.

The County Council is now tasked with hiring a new administrator.

County Chairwoman Liz Gilland said the next step is to appoint a committee from County Council to assess what the county will do next.

“We will probably look in our region first,” she said. “We are very aware that Horry County is a different kind of place … someone really should be familiar with the politics, the history and the personalities. That’s a huge plus.”

County attorney John Weaver’s name has been brought up among county employees who may be interested in that job, but he said Monday it’s not for him.

“I think the council is going to be charged with determining whether or not anybody within county government is capable of doing that job,” Weaver said. “I have not expressed an interest in that and I do not think that I will.”

Knight has been with county government since 1978, when he was hired by the county’s parks and recreation commission. He has served as assistant administrator and as a division director, and took on the administrator position in 1999.

The authority, which runs the county’s landfills and recycling programs, began its second attempt at finding a director on Feb. 6 after its initial pick for the job withdrew last year.

Randy Rudd, who was the sanitation director for a Florida utility agency, agreed to take the job in October but withdrew about two weeks later because of complications with his wife’s pregnancy, officials said. He had beat out more than 40 other applicants for the position.

The authority’s last executive director, Ricky Hardee, resigned in January 2008 shortly after the authority was fined by the state for allowing potentially harmful chemicals to leak from its landfills.

The authority has been run by interim director Larry Lewis since Hardee’s departure.

The authority was created by Horry County Council in 1990 but operates independently of the rest of county government, though technically, the council could disband it at any time. It receives millions of dollars in dumping fees each year. It subsidizes recycling and educational programs, and it also saves cash to pay for closing the landfill when it reaches capacity – near 2030, if all expansions go ahead as planned.

Knight said he intends on meeting with the community that lives along S.C. 90 to help make them a part of the process in beautifying the area where the landfill was built. Recycling and a regional landfill are other topics he plans to address when he takes the helm.

He said there will be a “big void” when he finally leaves the county post.

“The worst thing I had to do was tell my staff that I applied,” he said. “We’ve accomplished a great deal there. We can do the same thing here. I’ll miss the county, but I’m right here.”

Via Sun News

Contact JASON M. RODRIGUEZ at 626-0364.

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