Controversies erupt in Catherine Templeton’s first two months running the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control
Nobody is going to accuse Catherine Templeton of being shy.
Templeton’s trail
Within two months of taking over the Department of Health and Environmental Control, Commissioner Catherine Templeton has:
Cut nine office administrative jobs.
Created and hired three executive-level jobs at salaries of nearly $100,000 each and hired an executive assistant at a salary of nearly $70,000.
Hired a new chief legal counsel for DHEC (no salary released). He will begin this month.
Had her legislative liaison resign in the middle of the General Assembly session because of what Templeton characterized as a “philosophy difference” between where she and the liaison wanted to see DHEC go.
Set up an office in the Ocean and Coastal Resource Management division headquarters in North Charleston, near her Mount Pleasant home.
Videotaped a message to DHEC staffers asking them to email her with any concerns about how the agency is run, saying she would keep the emails confidential, which she can’t under Freedom of Information laws.
Within two months of taking over the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, the commissioner has cut a ax swath through personnel and practices, raising hackles in the General Assembly.
She’s made decisions that leave even some supporters shaking their heads. A state senator described her actions as “slash and burn” and said he’s worried for long term effectiveness of the agency.
The woman at the match head of these firestorms is a little dismayed at them.
Read more in tomorrows The Post and Courier.
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