NSBNEWS.net photo by Sera Frederick

Just weeks before New Smyrna Beach's planning debacle brought dozens of city projercts to a grinding halt in June, Chad Lingenfelter, shown here with his hand raised, and Mark Rakowski, the two planners blamed by city officials for the mess, applied unsuccessfully for the planner's job in Oak Hill. See the attachments posted with this story for their applications to Oak Hill.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- In another bizarre twist in the city's planning debacle, then-Chief Planner Chad Ligenfelter and his former boss, Mark Rakowski, both applied for the planner's position in Oak Hill, just weeks before the scandal broke last month. Neither won over Oak Hill officials who were pleased and relieved New Smyrna Beach's embarrassment wasn't passed on to them.

"It was quite the topic of conversation with a few laughs," Oak Hill City Clerk/Administrator Virginia Haas said of the news that these two candidates turned out to be at the center of New Smyrna Beach's planning nightmare.

NSBNEWS.net broke the story on June 29, that final paperwork on 29 land-use amendments affecting 72 large- and small-scale projects, including a Wal-Mart Supercenter and a 122-room Hampton Inn & Suites on Flagler Avenue were not sent to the state for certification before building permits could be issued.

That backlogged paperwork dating back five years, brought the city's development efforts to a grinding halt, putting tens of millions of dollarrs worth of construction in peril.

Linngenfelter, the planning department's chief planner, was fired July 21 and Rakowski, who was Lingenfelter's supervisor and director of developmental services, was let go Nov. 23. No reason was cited in Lingenfelter's termination letter for his dismissal, though Personnel Director Carol Hargy said his job was eliminated through budget cuts, with him as the lone cut. Hargy said the determination was made by City Manager Pam Brangaccio who has declined to be more specific.

The same thing happened to Rakowski after the city had to redo public hearings on the hotel because the public wasn't properly noticed. Again, Brangaccio had his post eliminated, citing budget cuts that affected only him.

Neither Lingenfelter nor Rakowski have repeatedly refused comment on the planning fiasco, though Rakowski did issue an e-mail after the story broke, in which he took full responsibility without explaining why or how.

In their cover letters and resumes to Oak Hill, both extolled their expertise in planning and zoning, including the finer points of comp-plan amendment procedures, which they failed to carry out in their planner jobs with New Smyrna Beach.

Lingenfelter specifically boasted in his resume of his expertise: "Compose staff reports and recommendations for complicated cases involving annexations, comprehensive plan amendments, rezonings, site plans, subdivisions, and code of ordinances amendments compliant with comprehensive plan, land development regulations, Florida statutes and Florida codes."

Rakowski extols his 23 years of municipal experience, specifically "comprehensive plan updates" and "processing large-scale comprehensive plan amendments that would impact the local community in general."

And though Lingenfelter's time in New Smyrna Beach was four years, with 14 years altogether in the planning profession, his hourly asking price of Oak Hill was even higher than what Rakowski was seeking.

Lingelter listed a flat rate of $83.13 plus expenses while Rakoswki's hourly rates averaged $75.

The two were among seven candidates with Oak Hill choosing a former Volusia County planner Montye Beamer for the job.

When told of the former planners having sought the Oak Hill post, New Smyrna Beach Mayor Adam Barringer, who had publicly demanded Lingenfelter be terminated for his role in the planning debacle, remarked: "Unbelievable."