PORT ST. LUCIE — City Manager Don Cooper is resigning his post after 20 years on the job.

Mayor Patricia Christensen made the surprise announcement at the end of Monday night’s City Council meeting.

“After 20 years of phenomenal work for the city of Port St. Lucie, Mr. Cooper will be leaving us the first of the year,” Christensen said.

Christensen said Cooper told her last week he would be turning in his resignation and she tried to get him to reconsider the decision over the weekend. But Monday afternoon she found his Oct. 9 two-sentence letter of resignation on her desk. It gave no reason why he was leaving. He said his resignation would be effective Jan. 8.

During Monday’s council meeting, Cooper said he had no intention of “making any comment whatsoever.

“Let me leave with little fanfare as possible,” he said. “No resolutions, no birthday cakes. Just let me do my job.”

Cooper’s resignation comes as the city is getting closer to obtaining permits from state and federal agencies to build a bridge to connect Crosstown Parkway with U.S. 1. E-mail correspondence within the last couple of weeks between the city and state Department of Environmental Protection officials indicate the city is near inking an agreement with the agency, which would allow the city to build over sensitive land.

In addition to facing challenging economic times, the city also is in the midst of acquiring property for an up to $32 million project to improve drainage problems on the east side of the city.

Vice Mayor Jack Kelly said Cooper’s decision to resign is not a “knee-jerk thing.

“He’s been thinking about this for quite a while,” Kelly said. “He’s got his own family and things to worry about, too. It’s a big decision, and it’s been coming for quite a while. God be with you, and good luck. You’re an amazing man.”

Cooper was hired by the city in 1989 as an assistant city manager and became city manager in 1991, Christensen said. She was on the council that appointed him, she noted.

His main job when he came on board was to create a cost-effective, citywide plan that would provide about 80,000 lots with centralized water and sewer. Residents in the mid-1990s on septic and well water didn’t want the cost associated with a modernized sewer system. So, they took the city to court, but the city prevailed. Christensen described it as the “water and sewer wars.”

The water and sewer project broke ground in 1996, and it was completed exactly in the 10-year time frame Cooper had promised, Christensen said. The city provided residents with a 10-year interest free loan to hook up to the city’s water and sewer program. The cost was assessed on a resident’s monthly utility bill.

“He’s led us through some tumultuous times,” Christensen said.

Cooper led the city through the 1999 brush fires at which time the city lost hundreds of acres and saw roughly 45 homes destroyed. The areas destroyed by the fires did not have central water yet, Christensen said.

“After those fires people came begging for water and sewer,” she said.

Cooper also led the city through three major hurricanes and led the charge for the construction of Crosstown Parkway. More than 400 properties were purchased to build the road with minimal challenge and legal battle, Christensen said. The six miles of roadway with a remaining two miles left to completion stretches from Manth Lane to Interstate 95. It includes an interchange at I-95 and an overpass over Florida’s Turnpike.

“That probably was the biggest hurdle to get through getting the Turnpike Authority to agree to an overpass,” Christensen said.

Christensen also credits Cooper with the city having the highest bond ratings a municipality can get and for being instrumental in bringing Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies to Tradition.

Christensen said the council, at this point, is in no rush to hire Cooper’s replacement. She said the city has two capable assistant city managers, Greg Oravec and Jerry Bentrott, to lead the city. She said she expected to have a discussion on Cooper’s replacement sometime in November.

“He’s done 20 years, and I’m sure after doing 20 years he’s looking to do bigger and better things,” she said. “He’s taking a phenomenal resume with him.”

Alexi Howk

Tags: city council, city manager, don cooper, resign

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 at 9:34 am and is filed under Economy, Port St. Lucie, Traffic. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.