TAMPA, Fla. -- The head of Tampa’s transit agency is under investigation for allegations of abusive and hostile behavior just five months after being appointed to the job.
On Monday, the HART board voted to hire an outside attorney to investigate HART interim CEO Carolyn House Stewart after an employee filed an anonymous complaint through the transit agency’s ethics hotline.
“The allegations are that there’s been abusive, hostile, humiliating, bullying and related behavior evidenced by the interim CEO,” HART attorney David Smith told the board at Monday’s virtual board meeting.
Stewart previously served as HART’s in-house attorney under former CEO Ben Limmer until she was appointed to fill the interim position in March.
Her appointment by the board came after Limmer was forced to resign in March after an investigation found he violated contract and spending rules and spent thousands of public dollars on lavish meals without board approval.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE
That investigation cost taxpayers $100,000.
The new investigation into Stewart is expected to pay an outside attorney $250 an hour to investigate the complaint against Stewart.
I-Team Investigator Adam Walser reached out to Stewart for comment and is still waiting to hear back.
