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Lowcountry Watch: North Charleston Officials Resign

Daughter of longtime mayor, former chief magistrate departs city post, returns to the bench…

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A veteran Charleston County magistrate judge who served as a top deputy to embattled North Charleston, South Carolina mayor Reggie Burgess has stepped down from her post with the city and returned to the bench.

Joanne Summey, daughter of former North Charleston mayor Keith Summey, served until March of this year as chief magistrate for Charleston County. She left that job to work with Burgess – a decision she is now reversing.

“She feels that she can best serve the citizens of North Charleston by returning to the bench,” a source close to the decision told this media outlet, adding Joanne Summey was “probably the most knowledgeable magistrate in Charleston County.”

Summey’s departure from city government was announced on Thursday morning (December 19, 2024). It comes less than ten months after she was hired by the city to serve as special assistant to Burgess – one of several individuals sweating out an ongoing federal investigation into alleged corruption in city government.

Sources familiar with the circumstances surrounding Summey’s departure said Burgess was increasingly keeping her “out of the loop” regarding decisions – and excluding her from meetings with other staff.

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City recreation director T.J. Roston also submitted his resignation this week. He is leaving North Charleston to assume a similar position in Mount Pleasant.

As this media outlet previously reported, “multiple target letters” have been sent in connection with these various North Charleston-related investigations by prosecutors in the office of U.S. attorney Adair Ford Boroughs.

Target letters are notifications from federal authorities to individuals or entities informing them that they are the focus of an ongoing criminal inquiry.

We also previously reported that “multiple city officials” had been hit with “search warrants seeking their electronic devices.”

This is a developing story… please check back for updates.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …

Will Folks on phone
Will Folks (Brett Flashnick)

Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.

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