The Georgetown Accountability Project

09/29/2026

Mayor Jay Doyle is having a very bad week. He lost his court case against the SC Dept. of Environmental Services for issuing permits to Tarbox Court, LLC , the property owner next door to his home that’s seeking a rezoning, for bulkheads along the Sampit River. Despite hiring former SC Democratic gubernatorial candidate James Smith as his attorney, the court ruled against every contention he made.

Click here for the GAB News story: https://gabnewsonline.com/mayor-jay-doyle-loses-appeal-over-sampit-river-bulkhead-permits-p9797-90.htm

Clearly, Mayor Doyle has a conflict of interest on the rezoning. A SC Ethics Commission advisory opinion states: “a public official must recuse himself from voting, deliberating or taking any action on the rezoning of property adjacent to his own.”

As we pointed out in June, beyond the court case, Doyle has been communicating with city staff about the rezoning and had the audacity to effectively fire the City Zoning Administrator Clarissa Tindall over the rezoning.

This week Mayor Doyle and city council were sued by the three planning commissioners they removed without cause or proper notice.

According to GAB News, Cary Farrow, Nick Robinson, and Raad Joseph “are asking the court to declare their removals invalid. They are also asking for an injunction to prevent the city from treating their seats as vacant and for Planning Commission meetings and votes to be halted until they are restored to their seats.”

We want open, honest city government, and what we’ve seen so far from the Doyle administration is very troubling.

09/01/2026

Mayor Jay Doyle and the Democrats on city council not only voted to raise our taxes, they didn’t honor their campaign promises to lower utility rates. In fact, the Doyle administration is using the electric utility as a piggy bank. The utility will generate nearly $3 million in profits that will be used to bail out the general fund and other utilities. How does this help working families and seniors?

08/26/2026

The conflict of interest Mayor Jay Doyle has with the rezoning of the Tarbox property next to his residence continues. His attorney, former SC Democratic gubernatorial candidate James Smith, has filed new motions in Doyle's litigation against the property owner and the SC Dept. of Environmental Services over the department’s issuance of a permit to construct a bulkhead on the property.

That’s not the only conflict of interest Doyle has with the Tarbox rezoning. A SC Ethics Commission advisory opinion states: “a public official must recuse himself from voting, deliberating or taking any action on the rezoning of property adjacent to his own.”

As we pointed out in June, Doyle has been communicating with city staff about the rezoning and had the audacity to effectively fire the City Zoning Administrator Clarissa Tindall over her communications about the rezoning. His email "firing" Clarissa is below.

How long is Doyle going to be able to get away with this? Why hasn't the City Attorney rendered an opinion on this conflict of interest that could potentially overturn City Council decisions and cost city taxpayers a lot of money in litigation costs? Is she not rendering an opinion because she’s worried about losing her job, too?

08/21/2026

We continue to see the consequences of last year’s city elections. At a time when most jurisdictions in the state are having a hard time filling positions on boards and commissions, the Georgetown City Council is effectively “firing” planning commissioners. Yesterday, on a 4-2 vote, (Erin Ethridge and Bruce Carl voted no) city council removed commission chair Raad Joseph and member Cary Farrow “for cause, adversely affecting the public interest.”

In other words, Mayor Jay Doyle and the Democrats on city council want puppets they can control on the planning commission, not independent, conscientious citizens, who do their homework and make decisions on land use based on the facts, not politics. If Mayor Doyle and the Democrats don’t want Joseph and Farrow on the planning commission, they need to be open and honest with us about why. Didn’t they promise us a more open city government during the elections?

Additionally, another well qualified planning commissioner, Graham Osteen, was not reappointed last month.

Most jurisdictions advertise for open positions, hoping to attract numerous applications and the best, most qualified person for the board or commission. Don’t hold your breath on that happening in Georgetown. It’s a given that Mayor Doyle and his cronies already have their puppets picked out for appointment.

Click here for news coverage of the firings:
https://gabnewsonline.com/two-planning-commissioners-ousted-by-georgetown-city-council-p9722-90.htm

07/31/2026

GAB NEWS: “Georgetown Mayor Jay Doyle says the city has secured $6 million from Georgetown County to help develop the Inner Harbor, including expanding the Harborwalk. But county officials say that's simply not true.”

Our city officials should be honest and have integrity. Mayor Jay Doyle’s lack of honesty and integrity is troubling. It’s unfortunate that SC does not have a law allowing voters to recall elected officials like Doyle.

GAB News for Georgetown County

07/28/2026

Another fumble from Mayor Jay Doyle’s administration to add to the list. Doyle’s new public relations advisor “was among five Horry County employees who resigned in November 2025 following an internal investigation over what the county called inappropriate s*xual relationships.”

The city of Georgetown has a new employee, but the name is familiar to some in Horry County.

06/27/2026

Only through openness in our city government can we hold the Mayor, City Council, and our city’s administration accountable for their actions. The SC Freedom of Information Act is vital in obtaining the public records necessary to learn about the performance of our public officials and the expenditure of our tax dollars. The SC Press Association says the FOIA is “Sunshine Law because it shines light on government meetings and records” and “is essential to our democratic form of government.” It’s been said of the importance of the FOIA that “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.” We’re going to keep shining a bright light on our city government. We hope you will too. Learn how you can use the FOIA by clicking on the link.

The S.C. Freedom of Information Act isn’t just for journalists. Here’s an easy-to-understand summary of the FOIA and open government.

06/24/2026

The City of Georgetown has banned City Council member Jessie Walker from paying her utilities by check until February 2027 because of bad checks she wrote to the city while she was City Council member-elect in December and as a City Council member in March. If you write two bad checks, the city must consider that person a credit risk. She even issued bad money orders to the city last August while running for office. This according to documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Walker is likely the only local elected official in the state banned from paying by check by the jurisdiction she governs. Last year, she was issued five utility shutoff notices, four while she was running for office and one in December after winning election. This March she was on the shutoff list again because she failed to pay what she owed even after being granted an extension.

And to top it off, Walker voted last Thursday to approve a city budget that increases our property taxes, does nothing to reduce utility costs, and skyrockets administrative spending. Is this who should be governing our city?

06/21/2026

So much for campaign promises. Last Thursday, City Council on a 6-1 vote approved a budget that increases our property taxes and does nothing to reduce utility costs. Our thanks to Bruce Carl for his “no” vote.

The budget increases city spending by nearly 6%. The increase in administrative costs is shocking. The administrative budget increased by a whopping 142% ($302,196 to $732,861) and the budget for the Mayor and City Council, which includes pay, travel, and expenses, increased by 16% ($310,537 to $360,406). The budget also raids the city’s rainy day fund to the tune of $3.3 million to balance the General Fund Budget and bail out the stormwater utility. The average increase in revenue for the electric, water, wastewater, and stormwater utility funds is nearly 18%. It’s unclear how such revenue increases are possible without rate increases. The budget imposes a number of new fees and substantially increases most existing fees.

The budget documents can be viewed at this link:
https://georgetownsc.portal.civicclerk.com/event/563/files/attachment/1260

So much for the big promises to reduce the cost of living in Georgetown.

06/04/2026

MAYOR JAY DOYLE: “[CLARISSA TINDALL] IS TRYING TO SNEAK IN REDOING THE FUTURE LAND USE MAP WITHOUT TELLING US, MAKING IT LOOK LIKE WE DID IT! PLEASE LOOK AT THE ENTIRE ORDINANCE AND THE WORDING INCLUDING CHANGING THE FUTURE LAND USE MAP. I BELIEVE, THIS AND OBVIOUS CASE OF TRYING TO DECEIVE CITY COUNCIL AND CAUSE FOR IMMEDIATE TERMINATION.”

The quote is from this April 16th email from Mayor Jay Doyle to City Director of Human Resources Katie Badgett and City Manager Scott Whittier regarding the Tarbox property rezoning and City Zoning Administrator Clarissa Tindall.

Based on a 2002 SC Ethics Commission Advisory Opinion, it appears Mayor Jay Doyle has a conflict of interest concerning the rezoning for the Tarbox property adjacent to his home and can take no action on the rezoning. This would mean that Doyle cannot vote on the rezoning, cannot communicate with or direct planning staff or lobby other City Council members on the matter. Click here for the opinion:
https://ethics.sc.gov/sites/ethics/files/Documents/Advisory%20Opinions/Advisory%20Opinion%20Topics/2003/AO2003-001.pdf

Not only is Doyle communicating with city staff about a rezoning in which he appears to have a conflict of interest, he has the audacity to effectively fire the City Zoning Administrator Clarissa Tindall over the rezoning.