Pasco: Builders group loses director

Builders group loses director

Hired in June 1999, Margo Darlington resigns from her job at the Pasco Building Association.

By JAMES THORNER

When Margo Darlington was hired last year as executive director of the Pasco Building Association, members lauded her as just the person to lead the organization into the new millennium.

But just seven months into the new millennium, she's gone. Darlington resigned last month as executive director and the building association is interviewing possible replacements.

Association treasurer Bill Segall said Darlington left in June after landing a new job as director of marketing at a major development company. He said she departed on good terms and remains on the PBA's board of directors.

"If she was ousted we wouldn't have asked her to be on our board of directors," said Segall, who works for Image Custom Homes. "She is still an active part of our organization."

Darlington, who said last year the director's job was the fulfillment of a lifelong ambition, didn't return a message from the Pasco Times left on her answering machine Tuesday.

The 27-year-old non-profit trade group, which represents builders, developers and related professionals, has recently been riding rough times.

In the two years before Darlington was hired in June 1999, membership plunged from about 500 to 250.

In 1998, the PBA's administrative assistant resigned after being accused of making personal purchases with a company credit card. The association never pressed charges.

One of Darlington's tasks was to restore confidence in the organization. But membership, now at about 255, improved little during her time as director.

Pasco builders said they were caught off guard in May, when county commissioners proposed adding $1,700 to the price of new single-family homes to pay for school construction.

Builders argued the proposed school impact fees were an attack on their livelihood, threatening to slow housing sales in what has been a boom market. Pasco is now re-evaluating the impact fees.

Segall said his organization, which keeps an office on State Road 54 east of Little Road, is in no hurry to hire Darlington's successor.

As a search committee goes about its work, the PBA is forwarding its phone calls to the Hernando Builders Association.

"We want to be very, very careful about who we bring in there," he said. "We're not going to rush into the matter."