Treasure Island commissioners voted to strip Tammy Vasquez of her title as vice mayor last week, replacing her with fellow Commissioner Arden Dickey in a 4-1 vote. Vasquez, who represents District 1, cast the lone dissenting vote and says the move was retaliation for her push to investigate City Manager Charles Van Zant.
A Swift Vote Buried in Commissioner Comments
The vote to remove Vasquez took place on Oct. 6, but it did not appear as its own item on the published agenda. Instead, as Tampa Bay Beacons reported, the matter surfaced during commissioner comments, a section typically reserved for informal remarks rather than formal action. Commissioners then chose Dickey to take over the vice mayor role.
According to The Gabber, Vasquez said the decision amounted to punishment for her request earlier this year to investigate Van Zant over concerns about city finances, workplace conduct and how women were treated at City Hall. Vasquez told commissioners the vote did not erase her standing with residents, saying the commission did not take away “my seat, my voice, or my responsibility,” per the same outlet's reporting through Tampa Bay Beacons.
Commissioners Cite Performance, Not Payback
Commissioner Chris Clark framed his vote differently, telling Vasquez his concern was whether she could work productively with the city manager. “Up to this point, you have not shown a willingness to do that,” Clark said, according to the Gabber's account of the meeting. Dickey, who was selected to replace her, said his vote centered on her performance in the role — citing her relationship with Van Zant, disputes playing out on social media, what he described as inaccurate information she had shared, and votes she changed on the tax rate and budget.
The removal capped weeks of escalating friction between Vasquez and the rest of the commission over Van Zant's future. In August, Vasquez accused the city manager of fiscal mismanagement, workplace misconduct and a loss of public trust, according to the Gabber. A motion that month to place Van Zant on administrative leave failed on a 2-2 tie after Clark was absent from that meeting, with Vasquez and Commissioner Czyszczon backing the leave and commissioners Doctor and Dickey defending Van Zant's performance.
Investigation Request Withdrawn Before It Began
Vasquez's push for an outside investigation into Van Zant never produced an independent review. Commissioners voted 3-1 on Sept. 10 to end the city's pursuit of that outside inquiry, Tampa Bay Beacons reported, with Vasquez abstaining from the vote because her own complaint had triggered the request. No independent investigator examined the allegations, according to the Gabber's reporting.
Clark told fellow commissioners that his own conversations with nine senior city employees did not back up claims that Van Zant had created a hostile or discriminatory workplace or treated women inappropriately, Tampa Bay Beacons reported. The dispute unfolded against a backdrop of broader turmoil at City Hall: FOX 13 reported the city has seen 38 staff resignations and the firing of a previous city manager amid the leadership upheaval.
Facebook Posts Added to the Pressure
Separately, Vasquez has faced calls from residents to resign after admitting she wrote anonymous Facebook comments criticizing residents, according to FOX 13's reporting. Multiple residents publicly demanded her resignation over the posts, the station reported, adding another layer of controversy to a vice mayor already locked in a standoff with her colleagues over Van Zant.
As the Tampa Bay Times first reported on the removal vote, the commissioner who took over as vice mayor said that in the past month he had seen behavior from Vasquez he considered inappropriate for the position. The dispute over Van Zant's future had been expected to resurface at later meetings given pending budget deliberations and Vasquez's stated intention to keep raising the issue, the Gabber noted in its August coverage — a prediction that bore out with the vice mayor fight that followed in October.
