Dade County Manager Burgess Resigns
MIAMI (CBS4) - Less than 24 hours after Miami-Dade voters resoundingly voted to recall Mayor Carlos Alvarez and Commissioner Natacha Seijas, there is another shake up at the Miami-Dade Courthouse.
County Manager George Burgess resigned Wednesday, just hours after Alvarez's ousting. Assistant county manager Alina Hudak was named interim county manager.
"There's a point in time when you have to step down," Burgess said. "It's either today, or 75 days from now. Any new mayor is going to build their own team and they should."
Burgess, who has been Alvarez's right hand man since the former police chief became county mayor in 2004, has been behind a number of controversial measures (property tax increase, public financing for the new Florida Marlins baseball stadium) which ultimately led to Tuesday's recall vote.
Last year, voters approved a charter amendment which will eliminate the County Manager position in 2012. With the handwriting on the proverbial wall, Burgess was reportedly been campaigning for the CEO job at Jackson Health System, but didn't make the final five list of candidates.
For Burgess, it wasn't just Alvarez getting recalled, but also about just a need to decompress from his public service work.
"I'm really looking forward to taking a break," Burgess said. "Anyone that knows how I've approached the jobs I've been in for 28 and a half years, I have a compulsive work issue. I don't slow down, never have. I'd like to take a breather and see what kind of radically opportunities that are out there that are outside of my comfort zone."
Burgess said it was the right time for me and my family to make this decision. He said the organization is in good hands with Hudak and said that if anyone wants to know what's in his head, "they know how to reach me."
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