Mayor Loses Day Job

BROOKSVILLE - The latest casualty of a flagging economy: Brooksville's top politician.

Mayor David Pugh Jr. was laid off this month from his engineering job with St. Joseph Development.

In a down market when developers throughout Florida are putting projects on hold or canceling them altogether, there simply wasn't enough work, Pugh said Tuesday.

That also has made for some unhappy job hunting, he said.

"It's just not a pretty picture," he said. "Unfortunately, the field is so screwed up right now nobody can get a job anywhere."

Pugh took the job at St. Joseph last year after leaving his post as project manager at Civil Tech Consulting Engineers, also in Brooksville.

St. Joseph is so small that the layoffs of Pugh and another employee earlier this year cut its entire staff by two-thirds, Pugh said. Only owner Joe Selway remains. Selway couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday.

Pugh, who turned 36 this month, said he has since been doing consulting work "here and there" - including Tampa - while he searches for a permanent position.

"It's touch and go," he said.

Pugh, who is divorced and has two children, hopes to keep his part-time job as a city council member. Elected in 2004, he's running again. So far he has one opponent, Cecil Davis, a Brooksville business owner.

Pugh has said in the past he doesn't do that one for the money.

As mayor, he gets an annual salary of $7,200. The vice-mayor makes $6,000, and the rest of the council members get $5,400.