Mayor Lenny Curry’s Deputy Chief Administrative Office Stephanie Burch will leave the administration at the end of February for the private sector.
The Curry administration announced Burch’s departure after six years with the city in a news release Feb. 1.
She will be replaced by 31-year Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department veteran Charles Moreland, according to the release.
Burch was deputy to Brian Hughes, Curry’s chief administrative officer, political strategist and former chief of staff.
The city did not identify the company Burch will join.
Burch played a key role in developing city programs and services to distribute federal COVID-19 aid to residents, businesses and nonprofits during the pre-vaccine period of the pandemic.
That included rent and mortgage assistance programs to tenants and landlords and building fee moratoriums for developers.
Many of those programs tapped $159 million from the federal government in 2020.
Burch was the city’s lead negotiator in JEA’s effort in 2019 to seek bids for the city-owned utility from nine companies.
She traveled to Atlanta with other city negotiators and JEA officials in December 2019 to interview and obtain final offers for the utility from high-ranking executives of nine private companies.
They included the highest bidder, Florida Power & Light Co. parent NextEra Energy Inc., according to transcripts of the negotiations released by JEA during a City Council investigation.
In May 2020, Curry and Hughes directed Burch to give a sworn deposition to Council attorneys investigating JEA’s failed attempt to privatize.
In a written statement Feb. 1, Curry said Burch has been “invaluable to us on a daily basis.”
“She has done an exceptional job helping lead this administration and overseeing many of the largest departments in the city. I am confident she will excel in her future endeavors and has been an exemplary employee and valued member of this administration.”
Moreland was appointed to the Curry administration in 2015 as director of community and international affairs.
According to the release, Moreland has worked with the city in numerous capacities since he was 18 years old, holding every civil service rank within JFRD.
In 2020, Curry asked Moreland to lead the city’s COVID-19 response efforts in testing and vaccinations working with federal, state and local stakeholders, the release states.
“Throughout his three decades of public service, Dr. Charles Moreland has proven time and time again that he is willing to step up and do what is necessary to serve his community,” Curry said in the release.
“As the leader of my COVID-19 Taskforce, Dr. Moreland has coordinated local, state, and federal resources to make sure Jacksonville citizens have access to all of the resources they need,” Curry said.
Burch is the second high-ranking member of the Curry administration to leave city employment since November. Curry’s former Chief of Staff Jordan Elsbury left the administration in late 2021 to become managing partner at the lobbying firm Ballard Partners’ Jacksonville office.
Curry is term-limited and will leave the mayor’s office in 2023.