By Dan Christensen, BrowardBulldog.org
The executive director of the South Florida Water Management District announced in an email to her staff Wednesday that she would step down at the end of the month.
Carol Wehle, 56, who held the job for six years, gave no reason for her abrupt decision to retire. She indicated, however, that she will be looking for new work. Her last day on the job at the district is April 29.
Her email comes less than a week after Broward Bulldog reported how under Wehle’s watch the district lost $1.5 million spent on large pumps that later failed, and how it currently is purchasing $2 million in additional pumps made by the same Hollywood manufacturer.
The April 7 story, which you can read here, also reported that the 1,900 employee district did not to follow through with legal action it threatened three years ago after Morrison Pump refused to honor its warranty on the 14 pumps.
The Sunshine State News reported Wednesday night that a Wehle colleague, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Gov. Rick Scott gave Wehle the week to prepare her resignation in lieu of dismissal.
In a letter to the district’s new chairman, Joe Collins, Wehle touted her accomplishments, including “the sound business practices we have institutionalized at the district.” She called it “an honor and a privilege to serve the taxpayers of Florida for nearly three decades.”
Two weeks ago, Wehle was the focus of a Palm Beach Post story that said the district’s inspector general hired her engineer boyfriend for a $120,000-a-year job as an “engineering auditor.”
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