Waste management chief to resign

By Times Staff Writer
Published May 7, 2005

TAMPA - After 18 years as the director of the Hillsborough County Solid Waste Management Department, Daryl Smith will leave the county next week, according to an e-mail sent out Friday afternoon to the county staff by James Ransom, the department's spokesman.

Ransom said Smith called him from home Friday morning to tell him that he planned to resign next week.

Neither Smith nor County Administrator Pat Bean could be reached for comment.

Smith was hired in 1987 as the director of a department that now has about 140 employees and a $60-million budget. About 89 percent of the budget is paid to independent haulers and waste management companies. The remainder is paid for the administration of the contracts. Smith's salary was $131,393.

He was suspended for a week without pay two years ago by then-County Administrator Dan Kleman after several employees complained about racially disparaging remarks made by his employees. Bean, who was then the assistant county administrator, wrote a report that concluded supervisors failed to discipline the employees.

"If management does not address such occurences when aware of them, we give the impression that such behavior is not only acceptable but even condoned in the workplace," she wrote.

[Last modified May 7, 2005, 01:01:10]