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NSBNEWS.net photo by Sera Frederick. Carol Hargy has returned to her nearly $80,000 job as the city of New Smyrna Beach's personnel director, two days after her resignation was final.
NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- She's baaaaack.
Carol Hargy, New Smyrna Beach's personnel director, has returned to her job, two days after her resignation was final.
"I realized going back into private industry wasn't worth it, even though I could have made a lot more money," Hargy said, having returned four days before Christmas.
Her last day was Dec. 16. But even as she attended a reception at City Hall six days prior to that she had doubts about leaving where she and two others, also on their way out, were feted -- Mark Rakowski, the development services director whose job was eliminated, and Kevin Fall, executive director of the Community Redevelopment Agency, who resigned after he was reprimanded for a motor vehicle stop after allegedly driving with an open container of alcohol.
Hargy said she got cold feet at the reception, having enjoyed her job and the camaraderie with her colleagues and the public in her three-plus years, had a "change of heart" after her last day.
Two days later, she was back on the job with the same pay. Hargy grossed just under $80,000 in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 31. Her pay did not change as she was hired back by Interim City Manager Pam Brangaccio.
"I enjoy what I'm doing for the city," Hargy said. "New Smyrna Beach is a nice and friendly community."
Hargy said she would have had to move to St. Augustine as a compromise to stay within a reasonable commute to Jacksonville for work and the New Smyrna Beach area to see family and friends. She said her husband was supportive of whatever she wanted to do, and ultimately she decided her "heart was here."
Mayor Adam Barringer, a principal in his family's construction firm and a restaurant owner, said he knows first hand the tough choices that have to be made sometimes in switching jobs.
"You find sometimes that the grass isn't always greener on the other side. "I'm glad Carol Hargy came back where she is highly respected."