Tanzler leaving job as water management district's executive director

Hans Tanzler III is leaving his post as executive director of the St. Johns River Water Management District, saying the agency has rebuilt itself to regulate responsibly after major staff cuts.

The district now has the means to be in the solutions business and is not in the just say no business, Tanzler said in a letter to board members announcing his resignation.

I believe I have completed my personal mission here, he said.

Tanzler, an attorney and son of the former Jacksonville mayor, will leave his post May 4.

His resignation letter referred to Gov. Rick Scott and the Cabinet appointing the next executive director with Senate confirmation, but agency spokeswoman Teresa Monson said a process for selecting a replacement hasnt been set yet.

She said the board could discuss that process during its next meeting April 14, but hasnt scheduled any action.

Until a replacement is named, operations will be overseen by Michael Register, the agencys director of regulatory, engineering and environmental services.

Tanzler has been the agencys $165,000-a-year executive director since 2011, and had been the agencys general counsel and a board member for three years before that.

The management district, headquartered in Palatka, oversees water supplies in an 18-county area holding close to five million people.

Funding for its $145 million yearly budget comes mainly from a separate property tax, and had withered in recent years after real estate values collapsed around the state.

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Tanzler leaving job as water management district's executive director