Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

County's No. 2 will take break

"I'm tired. When you wake up ... and think, 'I'm done, I'm cooked,' then that's it," a weary Gay Lancaster says.

By WILL VAN SANT
Published June 9, 2006

CLEARWATER - An exhausted Gay Lancaster, Pinellas County's second in command, plans to step down from her job and may not return.

In a letter to her boss, County Administrator Steve Spratt, Lancaster on Thursday asked for a sabbatical beginning July 1 so that she can rest and "determine my future career path."

Spratt said he would move quickly to reassign Lancaster's duties and begin searching for her replacement, preferably somebody already employed by the county.

Though Lancaster, 59, spoke recently of feeling burned out, Spratt said she always performed admirably and that he had not urged her to move on. "I have always been complimentary of Gay's work," he said. "This is really about her making a decision to take a break."

Lancaster joined county government as an assistant county administrator in 1989. Before that, she held several important posts in the Sheriff's Office.

In 2005, she made nearly $169,000, making her one of the state's highest paid assistant county administrators.

She said she has simply hit a wall and must have time to gather her breath, be near her family and focus on her future. "I'm tired. When you wake up in the morning and think, 'I'm done, I'm cooked,' then that's it."

Human services, emergency management, justice and consumer services and community development are among the departments Lancaster recently managed.

She expects to take about a month to decide her next move and said she would make herself available to former colleagues who will help fill her role.

Lancaster said her next move might involve something in the private sector, resolving workplace conflicts. But that's purely speculation, she said.

Lancaster, however, is two years shy of the 30 years in the state retirement system needed to secure full benefits.

In her letter to Spratt, she wrote "I would like to reach an agreement with you on potential opportunities" to find another government job within the retirement system.

Asked whether that job could be elsewhere in county government, Spratt said perhaps, then added that people employed by special taxing districts and community colleges are eligible for state retirement benefits too.

"I'm open to working with her on what she thinks is a good step," Spratt said.

Will Van Sant can be reached at 445-4166 or vansant@sptimes.com.

[Last modified June 9, 2006, 05:55:10]