MORNING HEADLINES | The S.C. State Ports Authority (SPA) will pay nearly $1 million in a severance package to Barbara Melvin, the maritime agency’s former president and CEO who abruptly resigned last week.
Melvin will receive $822,780 in pre-tax salary continuation payments and a $100,000 contribution to her state retirement account, according to the agreement, according to reports.
Melvin’s severance package also allows her to keep her company iPad, laptop and cellphone after authority-related information has been wiped from the devices. She will also receive the balance of any accrued unused leave and be retained as an hourly consultant to the SPA through the end of the year.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to have served South Carolina and the ports authority over these many years,” she said in a prepared statement. “I take pride in what has been accomplished by the port while I have served it in multiple roles. Knowing the resiliency of the ports authority and its people, I have no doubt even more success is in its future.”
Melvin, whose LinkedIn profile now has a title “Writing Chapter 2,” had a 27-year career at the SPA. In 2019, she became chief operating officer. Three years later, she became president and CEO. She currently remains on the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
Phil Padgett, the authority’s chief financial officer and vice president of administration, has been named interim president and CEO.
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