NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- Embattled Chief Planner Chad Lingenfelter learned his fate just before 5 p.m. Wednesday when he met briefly with Personnel Director Carol Hargy: His job, which paid a base salary of $69,160 annually, was eliminated due to a budget cut.
Hargy confirmed that she met with Lingenfelter late Wednesday afternoon and he was informed of his fate.
"His position has been eliminated effective July 21, 2010," Hargy told Headline Surfer. "
Asked who made that decision on the basis of a budget cut, Hargy said, "The city manager did."
City Manager Pam Brangaccio could not be reached for comment after the close of business Wednesday.
Lingenfelter, a four-year employee earning $33.25 an hour, will be paid 106 hours for a total of $3,552.76, plus two weeks of severance pay for another $2,660. He also will receive continuation of health insurance coverage for the next 90 days.
Lingenfelter could not be reached for comment and had not returned calls over the weekend nor did he return previous messages for comment by Headline Surfer.
City Hall insiders had said Friday that Lingenfelter was informed by the city manager that morning that he was to report to work Monday and that he had two choices: Voluntarily resign or be fired.
Lingenfelter was a no-show at work both Monday and Tuesday and earlier in the day Wednesday, Hargy said without being specific that there would be some finality to his employment by the close of the day and that the previous two days were considered personal leave time.
Lingenfelter's fate mirrors that of former Director of Developmental Services Director Mark Rakowski, who saw his position eliminated Nov. 23.
City Hall insiders had said Friday that Chad Lingenfelter, shown here, was informed by the city manager that morning that he was to report to work Monday and that he had two choices: Voluntarily resign or be fired.
Lingenfelter was a no-show at work both Monday and Tuesday and earlier in the day Wednesday, Hargy said without being specific that there would be some finality to his employment by the close of the day and that the previous two days were considered personal leave time.
Lingenfelter's fate mirrors that of former Director of Developmental Services Director Mark Rakowski, who saw his position eliminated Nov. 23.
Headline Surfer obtained Rakowski's severance amount through a public records request, showing he was paid a whopping $59,703.23. The breakdown was as follows: Actual severance, $14,160; personal leave; $11,787.56; vacation, $6,429.97; sick time, $27,325.70.
Rakowski, who was with the city for 21 years, received the entire amount in one lump sum in negotiations with Brangaccio, a payout City Commissioner Jim Hathaway called an "embarrassment."
Rakowski was the sixth highest paid municipal employee in 2009, grossing $115,594.37. Lingenfelter, at $72,761, was the 36th highest paid employee for the city in 2009.
The day after Headline Surfer broke the story on the planning debacle on June 30, that the planning department, dating back five years, had not sent up final paperwork to the Florida Department of Community Affairs for 29 land-use amendments that resulted in 72 large- and small-scale land-use projects coming to a grinding halt.
The Wal-Mart Supercenter on State Road 44 and just west of Interstate 95, was to break ground in mid-August, but that was canceled as was the July 4 groundbreaking for a new church by the United Church of Christ, which could see its new church delayed by as much as a year.
The planning mess also puts the proposed 112-room Hampton Inn & Suites for Flagler Avenue in doubt, already slowed by screw ups late last year under Rakowski's watch in which the public was not properly noticed, requiring the city to hold "do over" public hearings before the Planning Board and the City Commission.
That led to Rakowski's ouster under a so-called consolidation of department heads that affected one employee -- Rakowski.
But Lingenfelter, hired four years ago and tasked with taking care of the land-use amendment and development paperwork under Rakowski, didn't follow through with sending up the final paperwork to Tallahassee.
And after Rakowski's exit, Lingenfelter still sat on the paperwork. In an emergency meeting with DCA officials in Tallahassee, Brangaccio said there was no reason given to her as to why the two planners sat on the work, essentially putting tens of millions of community projects in jeopardy.
That's because with the November elections looming and Amendment 4 on the ballot -- commonly called Hometown Democracy -- approval of such projects would be decided by residents and not city hall officials.
The DCA agreed to expedite the paperwork, but there is no guarantee review of all 72 pending projects will be completed by then because the state agency has 14,000 applications for review from across Florida, compared to a yearly average of 8,000 requests.
The day after Headline Surfer broke the planning debacle mess, Rakowski fired off an e-mail to the local media taking responsibility for the situation and apologizing, but not explaining how or why.