In the wake of Shitgate 2015/PooNami, the city has announced St. Petersburg Public Works Administrator Mike Connors' "retirement" (emphasis ours) today.
Although Mayor Rick Kriseman's office would not say whether or not Connors' retirement had to do with a series of shitty decisions — Connors ordered the early-August pumping of 15.4 million gallons of untreated sewage into Clam Bayou, the last remaining tidal estuary on Boca Ciega Bay, and more into the waters surrounding Eckerd College — the timing seems right.
Connors said the decision to end his three-decade career with St. Petersburg came after a whole weekend of thinking.
Gulfport officials closed the city's portion of Clam Bayou and Boca Ciega Bay on August 4; Eckerd College closed Frenchman's Creek and an area known as "south beach" on August 7 (we're assuming new students received the state-mandated "warning: water has crap in it" notice when they received their $26,000 tuition receipt, which could only have pleased their parents). Eckerd reopened Frenchman's Creek for swimming on August 13; Gulfport reopened its beaches on August 11. The Gulfport Municipal Marina and Clam Bayou remain closed.
In what one can only assume was a carefully worded press release, Kriseman said Connors made "immeasurable contributions" to St. Petersburg over the past three decades, and wished him well "in the next chapter of his life."
We'd also like to wish Connors well in whatever he does next, just as long as he doesn't have any control over human waste or its final destination.
Connor has also caught fire in recent months over a few other issues within the city, including the Pier selection process and the rollout of a citywide curbside recycling program.
