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<\/p>\nA contentious effort to place Treasure Island City Manager Charlie Van Zant on paid administrative leave amid claims that included fiscal mismanagement, interference with commissioners\u2019 oversight and inappropriate workplace conduct exposed deep divisions on the city\u2019s commission Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Commissioners deadlocked 2-2 on Vice Mayor Tammy Vasquez\u2019s motion to place Van Zant on leave pending an outside investigation. Vasquez and Commissioner Arthur Czyszczon supported the motion, while Mayor John Doctor and Commissioner Arden Dickey opposed it. Commissioner Chris Clark was absent.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
City Manager Charlie Van Zant. Photo: City of Treasure Island.<\/p>\n
In presenting the motion, Vasquez said her concerns extended far beyond a single disagreement.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I\u2019m addressing is not a single disagreement or an isolated incident, but a continuing pattern involving fiscal judgment, hiring decisions, communication failures, interference with commissioners\u2019 ability to perform their elected responsibilities and inappropriate workplace conduct,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She declined to discuss those claims in greater detail during Tuesday\u2019s meeting, saying they are part of an ongoing investigation.<\/p>\n
In a follow-up email Wednesday, Vasquez said an official complaint had been filed with the city\u2019s human resources department requesting an outside investigation because the complaint involves the city manager.<\/p>\n
The Catalyst requested comment from Van Zant Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n
During Tuesday\u2019s meeting, Vasquez said her relationship with Van Zant had deteriorated over several months before she stopped meeting with him privately about seven weeks ago. She also said a confrontation outside two back-to-back public meetings prompted her to file a formal grievance.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was the icing on the cake for me, and that is when I filed a formal grievance against the city manager,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Vasquez pointed to a July 21 commission workshop as an example of the growing tension between herself and Van Zant. A review of that meeting shows the two publicly disagreed over whether questions about proposed improvements to the Sunset Beach Pavilion, a city-owned beachfront facility undergoing repairs following the 2024 hurricanes, belonged on the workshop agenda.<\/p>\n
Vasquez also said information uncovered in the days leading up to Tuesday\u2019s meeting convinced her she had a fiduciary obligation to pursue the investigation and seek Van Zant\u2019s removal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI absolutely fought with myself,\u201d she said. \u201cBut some things that have come up and been discovered in the last five days, it is my fiduciary obligation as an elected official not only to do what I\u2019m doing right now, but to engage the investigations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Czyszczon said his support for the motion centered on Van Zant\u2019s leadership and responsiveness.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t have any confidence in his leadership ability,\u201d Czyszczon said.<\/p>\n
He said many of his requests for information require repeated follow-up and questioned Van Zant\u2019s visibility at City Hall and community events.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou got to be here, you got to be present,\u201d he said. \u201cYou got to be a part of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dickey rejected Vasquez\u2019s claims. \u201cMr. Van Zant has my full support,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Dickey said he meets with Van Zant weekly, has seen no evidence of financial mismanagement and could not recall an instance in which the city manager failed to respond to a request from him or one of his constituents.<\/p>\n
While supporting an outside review of any financial concerns, Dickey said \u201cI think you\u2019ll find nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Doctor also voted against the motion, saying he had not experienced the type of conduct described by Vasquez.<\/p>\n
Van Zant became Treasure Island\u2019s city manager in June 2025 after previously serving as city manager of Keystone Heights, in North Central Florida. Commissioners approved his current employment agreement in May on a 4-1 vote, with Czyszczon casting the lone dissenting vote. During Tuesday\u2019s meeting, Vasquez acknowledged she ultimately voted for the contract because she believed there were not enough votes to defeat it.<\/p>\n
Clark, who was absent from Tuesday\u2019s meeting, defended Van Zant in a follow-up email Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have never seen any of the behaviors that the Vice Mayor accused him of. Not ever,\u201d Clark wrote.<\/p>\n
He also disputed the motive behind the effort to remove the city manager.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have evidence that this is a coordinated attack on the City Manager that had been going on for months and is purely political,\u201d Clark wrote.<\/p>\n
Clark said he intends to present that evidence at an upcoming commission meeting.<\/p>\n
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