Deerfield Beach City Manager Burgess Hanson, who has led the city for nearly a decade, resigned Tuesday night.
Although the resignation is effective June 1, he will be on administrative leave until then, a city spokeswoman said. His pay was $184,998.
Mayor Bill Ganz said he wanted Hanson to step down, concerned that the manager was giving him information that was “incomplete, misleading or downright not accurate.”
The manager is the chief executive officer, in charge of running the city’s day-to-day operations and overseeing department heads. Hanson didn’t give clues about his departure in his letter, but he did note the decision was his “final one as your city manager to live a better, healthier life.” He couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday despite a call and text to his cellphone.
Ganz said one problem began last week after Ganz questioned the use of the athletic fields and requested background checks for coaches at the organizations that used the fields, which apparently wasn’t happening. He said Hanson was “not upfront with me” with the results.
“As I kept questioning him more, his statements were not backed up by facts.”
Ganz said the resignation didn’t surprise him. “It escalated to a point that I requested he submit his resignation last Friday, and if he chose not to, I planned on taking the next steps to discuss his termination,” he said.
Ganz also said Hanson told him late last year he had accidentally been overpaid by the city by about $6,000, but would pay it back immediately, with interest.
Only when Ganz followed up in February, he learned the figure was actually closer to $16,000, and the manager told him he had already paid it back to the city, Ganz said. Last week he asked again and demanded proof of payment — then Hanson said he would pay it the next day, which he did, Ganz said.
Ganz said since he has known him, he has “been able to trust his word,” but that ended within weeks.
Hanson had thought about leaving before but was convinced into staying.
In 2015, he was named a finalist in the search for Marion County’s administrator. A month later he agreed to drop off the finalist list and accept the $19,000 annual raise the Deerfield city commission offered to stay.
Hanson was hired to the city as the assistant to the city manager in 2001. He became the director of information technology in 2006. From there he became the interim city manager and then the permanent one in 2010.
lhuriash@sunsentinel.com, 954-572-2008 or Twitter @LisaHuriash