UNION, S.C. (AP) - A South Carolina county council voted to ask its sheriff to step down after a state police report said he requested employees to buy him alcohol while on duty and made sexually inappropriate comments.
But the Union County Council has no power to fire Sheriff David Taylor, who released a statement after the vote saying he plans to serve until the end of his term in December.
“I was elected by the majority of the voters to serve out my four-year term, and that is my intent,” Taylor said in a statement sent to the Herald-Journal of Spartanburg.
A prosecutor who reviewed the report by the State Law Enforcement Division didn’t recommend criminal charges, saying Taylor didn’t get any personal financial benefit from his office mismanagement.
Taylor said while some of the allegations in the report were true, many others weren’t. He asked for the state investigation after reports of financial problems emerged in 2018.
Along with asking Taylor to resign last week, the Union County Council also gave initial approval to a resolution that would allow voters in November to decide if the county should have its own police force that might not be run by the sheriff, Union County Supervisor Frank Hart said.
That resolution requires two more votes.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.