Brooksville City Manager Resigns, Public Kept in The Dark

After just 13 months on the job, Brooksville City Manager Charlene Kuhn submitted her resignation. The circumstances of her resignation, which were kept secret for nearly two months, have led to deep concern from a city council member and residents are now unclear on the city’s leadership and direction.

Surprise Appointment
Kuhn was appointed during a City Council meeting on September 18, 2023. At that meeting, Kyle Martin, the city’s Human Resources Director, provided an update on the city manager vacancy. This was intended to be an innocuous update on the search to replace Ron Snowberger, who had retired, and members of the public had largely filed out of the room by then.

Martin told the council that the city received 29 applicants, 72 percent of whom were qualified to be considered for the vacancy. The city established a selection committee that included department heads, and they chose six applicants to move forward to council interviews. Kuhn was a member of that committee.

After asking the council for direction on how to proceed with the six selected, Council Member Thomas Bronson made an abrupt motion to appoint Kuhn.

Although Kuhn did not apply for the job, after a brief discussion, the council voted 5-0 to discontinue the interview process and name Kuhn the new city manager.

Council-Manager Form of Government
Like many local governments in Florida, including Hernando County, the city operates a council-manager form of government. Under this arrangement, the city council delegates management of the city and staff to a city manager.

Mayors of a council-manager government are largely a ceremonial title, they do not have a direct say in management of the city and their vote carries equal weight to fellow council members.

Allegations
On November 8, 2024, less than two weeks before Kuhn submitted her resignation, the Hernando Sun filed an open records request with the City of Brooksville seeking information on Kuhn’s communications with city staff.

This was prompted by a source regarding working conditions and morale among staff. Upon receiving the records, the Hernando Sun was unable to substantiate the allegations and did not pursue the story.

Rumors
According to City Councilmember Betty Erhard, she became aware of a rumor that Kuhn had submitted her resignation in November to be effective January 17, 2025 and decided to investigate.

“I emailed [Kuhn] on January 2, 2025, asking for clarification if the rumor was true,” stated Erhard. “I did not receive a response.”

At this point, there was no communication from city staff or council that Kuhn was resigning or that she submitted her resignation months earlier. On January 3, Erhard received a copy of the resignation letter from city hall and forwarded it to a Hernando Sun reporter.

“This lack of transparency not only erodes trust among council members but also between the city and the residents we serve,” Erhard stated in a prepared statement. “The public deserves to be informed of such significant developments promptly and with clarity.”

Within hours of Erhard forwarding the letter, the Hernando Sun attempted to reach the mayor and other council members to ask when and if they were aware that Kuhn had resigned. None of them responded to numerous attempts.

Resignation Confirmed
The city council meeting on January 6 was held in a gymnasium at the Jerome Brown Community Center to accommodate a large crowd due to unrelated, contentious issues the council planned to vote on.

In an apparent oversight by city staff, there were no microphones or speakers. Due to the large open space, many in attendance were not able to hear the council or those speaking at the podium and left out of frustration. The video of the meeting, which serves as the official record, has severe audio issues that make it difficult to decipher.

The city manager vacancy was not published on this agenda, and residents were still in the dark regarding the resignation submitted months earlier.

Because the next city council meeting would have fallen on a date after Kuhn had left her post, and a lack of response from the mayor and city council, a Hernando Sun reporter utilized the citizen comment section at the end of the meeting to inquire about the resignation.

Co-Interim City Managers
After citizen comment, Mayor Christa Tanner acknowledged that she wasn’t involved in the previous meeting’s agenda but did not acknowledge why this wasn’t included in the current meeting’s agenda. Nor did any of the other elected officials discuss why residents were kept in the dark about Kuhn’s resignation for months.

Tanner then expressed confidence in Public Works Director Richard Weeks to serve as interim manager; but as Mayor, she is unable to make a motion herself.

Erhard made a motion to appoint Community Development Director David Hainley as interim manager, but it died due to the lack of a second. After a back-and-forth discussion over concerns regarding their existing workload, a motion was made to appoint both Hainley and Weeks to be co-interim city managers.

After the vote, Tanner stated to Hainley and Weeks: “I appreciate you stepping up to the plate because we really didn’t ask ya’ll, but…” followed by laughter from the dias.

It’s not clear who will have the final say in the event of a disagreement between the two interim managers, or who will ultimately be responsible for the management of the city in the event of an emergency or major incident.

The Hernando Sun attempted to get a comment from both Kuhn and a city spokesperson via email but did not receive a response.