Editor's Note: Carol Hargy changed her mind and was rehired two days later (see follow-up story below).

Posted Mon, 2009-11-23 15:27

NSBNEWS.net photos by Sera Frederick. Mark Rakowski, (far left photo) development services director, is out of a job, and Carol Hargy, (near left photo) personnel services director, has tendered her resignation for a job in Jacksonville.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Two major players in city administration are leaving the employ at City Hall: Carol Hargy, personnel director, is leaving voluntarily, but Mark Rakowski, the development services director, is out of a job involuntarily.

Rakowski's position was "eliminated," according to an unnamed source for NSBNEWS.net.

A staff member in Rakowski's office said he was out of the office and unavailable until next Monday.

The source said Rakowski "won't be back next Monday or any day after that," adding emphatically, "Rakowski is out."

Messages left for Interim City Manager Pam Brangaccio were not returned. Her executive secretary said Brangaccio was tied up in meetings this afternoon.

Hargy is leaving for a similar position in Jacksonville, with her resignation effective Dec. 16.

A nearly three-year employee, Hargy grossed $79,487.02 in the last fiscal year, the 22nd highest paid worker.

Rakowski, who had been with the city for 21 years, was the sixth highest paid city worker in fiscal 2008-'09 at $115,504.37. Messages left with Hargy for comment were not returned.

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NSB Personnel Director Carol Hargy has 'change of heart' over resignation; returns two days later

Posted Mon, 2009-12-28 20:33

By Henry Frederick

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."