In Tampa government, another resignation: this time, director of planning

TAMPA — Sitting at a long conference table inside the city’s downtown municipal office building, Mayor Jane Castor reflected on the recent burst of senior officials resigning from her administration’s housing and economic development teams.

Does she see a connection between the departures?

“No,” she said in an interview with the Tampa Bay Times this week.

They’re a coincidence?

“Yes.”

“We won’t miss a step,” the mayor said.

A day later, another top staffer handed in his resignation: this time, Stephen Benson, the city’s planning director, according to records reviewed by the Times.

“I remain grateful to the City of Tampa for giving me this opportunity to serve,” Benson, who worked for the city for five years, wrote in his resignation letter. His last day is July 11.

Benson, a third-generation Tampa native, is the latest in a slew of departures that have hollowed out senior leadership in areas of Castor’s administration where the city faces some of its most pressing concerns.

Senior Planning Coordinator Andy Mikulski is also resigning after about three years with the city, a spokesperson confirmed to the Times Friday, providing no further details beyond his last day: July 5.

In April, the mayor’s top staffer overseeing economic development, Nicole Travis, announced she would be leaving July 1. Less than two months later, the deputy administrator for development and economic opportunity, Alis Drumgo, handed in his resignation.

Days later, the director of the city’s community redevelopment agency, Erica Moody, announced she would be leaving after just a year of working for the administration.

Last week, Kayon Henderson, director of housing, handed in her resignation, too.

In the interview this week, the mayor said a variety of professional and personal reasons prompted the recent exits, which come a little more than a year into her second term.

“I know that it makes a good story to connect all of these because they were all in close proximity but there is no connection,” she said, adding that the cluster comprises a slim proportion of the city’s overall workforce.

The mayor also pointed to the advisory teams she convened early in her first term — teams that gave reports and recommendations Castor said offered roadmaps to keep the city moving forward. Those advisors focused on five areas: transportation, development services, workforce development, housing affordability and sustainability and resilience.

“We have well-laid plans,” Castor said.

In a written statement to the Times Friday morning provided by a city spokesperson, the mayor wrote: “I appreciated Stephen’s good work for the City of Tampa and wish him the best in his next chapter.”

Benson joined the city’s Mobility Department in 2019 after working in the private sector and at the Florida Department of Transportation.

During his time with the city, he spearheaded a land use study for transit-oriented development, worked to push the long-discussed streetcar extension forward and helped launched the mayor’s Crosswalks to Classrooms initiative which covers intersections nears schools with colorful murals to boost pedestrian safety. The strategy is part of Tampa’s Vision Zero efforts, an international pledge to eliminate traffic deaths and severe injuries from city streets.

Last summer, the Mobility Department, praised by Castor as a core component of her vision to unlock more of downtown for reinvestment, witnessed high-profile exits and allegations of a hostile workplace. Four senior female staff members left the department within a matter of weeks.

Benson, who declined to comment when reached by phone Friday morning, served as the city’s chief planner for a year before he became the director of the planning department in November 2021.

“From day one, I have remained laser-focused on an agenda that produces a better Tampa for the next generation,” he wrote in his resignation letter this week. “I have dedicated myself to filling organizational gaps, promoting a culture of innovation and collaboration, and advocating for effective and visionary solutions to our most urgent challenges.”

This is a developing story. Please check back for details.