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Activist leaving city for new job

After just three months as Brooksville's redevelopment coordinator, Joe Murphy Jr. finds new work with Swiftmud.

By JONATHAN ABEL
Published June 16, 2006

BROOKSVILLE - Three months ago, Joe Murphy Jr. took over as Brooksville's redevelopment coordinator.

Now, he's leaving for another job.

A Brooksville native and outspoken environmental activist, Murphy took the job of redevelopment coordinator with the hopes of revitalizing the city's historic downtown.

But on Thursday, he announced that he is taking a job at the Southwest Florida Water Management District starting June 29. His new job, coordinating the district's Water C.H.A.M.P. conservation program, will focus on education and outreach to the tourism industry about not wasting water.

"I didn't anticipate how much I would miss working on and talking about environmental issues," Murphy said of his three months working for the city. "I found out about this job at the water management district, and it just seemed like a good fit."

His resignation letter insists that he is "leaving for purely personal reasons."

But Murphy's departure leaves the city of Brooksville in a bind.

Community Development director Bill Geiger said Murphy's workload would fall back on other staff members as the city looks for a replacement.

"It's very difficult to find someone with any kind of background in redevelopment and planning as it relates to municipal government," Geiger said. "It's a high demand commodity in the state of Florida, and there's only so many people out there."

In his short tenure as redevelopment coordinator, Murphy threw himself into work on the Good Neighbor Trail, a paved path that would connect southern Brooksville to the Withlacoochee State Trail 9 miles to the east.

He said he'd made "a little progress" on the project, but one of the things he learned about government is that everything moves slowly.

"I really didn't understand how some of these programs are really long, multiyear projects," Murphy said.

Geiger said that Murphy performed very well "for the time he was here" but added that Murphy hadn't been working for the city long enough to get a true evaluation of his work.

Geiger didn't try to persuade Murphy to stay.

"At the point when he came and talked to me he already had a job at the other agency, and the way he told me, he didn't want to be talked out of it," Geiger said.

"I feel bad about leaving the city," Murphy said, "but you only live once, and this was a great opportunity to find a job in Hernando County."

Jonathan Abel can be reached at jabel@sptimes.com or (352)-754-6114.

[Last modified June 16, 2006, 07:07:33]