City Manager Kathleen Gunn.
By Agrippina Fadel
City Manager Kathleen Gunn offered her resignation on Thursday, so the new commission members elected on November 8 would have an opportunity to “select the city manager of their choice.”
Gunn sent the email to the city commission, stating, “Kindly be advised that per my employment contract, this letter will serve as notice of my intention to step down as city manager at the end of the contract term. This notice will begin the transition period of 120 days until the term ends.”
She added that she “deeply believes” that the new commissioners should have a chance to “start anew.”
Gunn thanked the commission for having faith in her and her team to help guide the city over the past year. “With your support, we have been able to move this city forward in a positive direction, and I am proud of our accomplishments,” she added.
According to an anonymous source in city hall, Gunn’s decision might have less to do with her desire to give the new commission a chance to choose someone else and more with the items on the referendum up for the vote on November 8 and the possibility of Vice Mayor Mike Gelin winning the mayoral race and Stuart Michelson taking the District 2 commissioner seat.
The two items have residents deciding whether the city commission needs a majority or a super-majority to remove the city manager and discusses the city manager’s authority and ability to appoint assistant city managers, department heads, and city clerk with or without the city commission approval.
Kathleen Gunn officially took on the role of Tamarac city manager on December 8. She was appointed interim city manager on August 31, 2021, after the former City Manager Michael Cernech was arrested on September 2, 2021, on alleged charges of conspiring to extort money from developer 13th Floor Investments.
During the lengthy salary and contract negotiations, Commissioner Marlon Bolton and Gelin had a lot of questions and concerns about Gunn’s qualifications, pay, and future performance. Both voted no when the commission approved her employment agreement.
Mayor Michelle Gomez said Gunn was to become Tamarac’s first female city manager and wondered if the commission would be putting her through the same grueling process if she were a man.
Before being hired as assistant city manager in 2017, Gunn worked for the City of Miramar from 2014 to 2017 and Fort Lauderdale from 2004 to 2011 in the same role.
Gunn graduated from Pace University in New York with a bachelor of arts in political science and government and a master’s in public administration. She also earned her master’s in pastoral ministries from St. Thomas University.
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