TARPON SPRINGS — City Manager Charles Rudd resigned Wednesday morning after a $40,000 staff retreat in Orlando devolved into intensive sessions that left some employees distressed, Mayor John Koulianos told the Tampa Bay Beacons.
Senior staff and department heads were asked to attend what they believed was job-related training but instead participated in soul-searching exercises rooted in the methodology of Landmark Worldwide, the mayor said.
Rudd disputes that characterization, saying the training was conducted by Vanto Group, a Landmark subsidiary that runs corporate seminars, and was not a Landmark Forum.
“I think he is a good man, a fine man, who had a lot of potential,” Koulianos said. “He was a successful city manager. I liked him and wish him nothing but the best. He was surprised by the outcome but just lost the confidence of staff.”
City employees complained to the internal auditor that they couldn’t use their phones and had to be escorted to the restroom or outside. Some said they feared upsetting Rudd if they chose to leave, Koulianos said.
“It was leadership training, but staff was not prepped for how intense it would be and felt it wasn’t appropriate,” the mayor said. “Job training should be more job-specific. We are a government agency, and this was a very uncomfortable experience for them.”
At least one employee reported becoming emotionally distraught, he said.
Rudd told the Beacon on May 7 that he was “bewildered and saddened” by his ouster and called the episode a misunderstanding blown out of proportion. He said he was shocked at how abruptly he was asked to resign, without warning or sanction, after a performance record that had drawn regular praise from commissioners.
He disputed the account of the retreat itself. Participants were not followed or escorted to the bathroom, he said, and were free to leave the room whenever they wanted. As at any seminar, attendees were asked to silence their phones and check messages at lunch — a request he said some staffers repeatedly ignored.
“Some of the participants did not like the training and some did,” Rudd said. “Those that did were silent and those that didn’t like it apparently told everyone, except me.”
The training was based on the book “The Three Laws of Performance,” published by Vanto Group. The firm, founded in 1991, applies Landmark methodology to corporate clients and aims to improve performance by examining how perception and language shape workplace behavior. Some sessions can prompt participants to revisit past experiences, Rudd acknowledged, which can be upsetting.
On its website, Landmark describes its forum as offering “practical and tested methodologies for producing breakthroughs,” adding that participants discover blind spots and gain “an expanded ability to think and act beyond existing views and limits.”
A 2009 Mother Jones article by reporter Laura McClure, who attended a Landmark Forum session, noted that participants signed a six-page disclaimer acknowledging that attendees with no history of mental or emotional problems had experienced “brief, temporary episodes of emotional upset ranging from heightened activity ... to mild psychotic-like behavior.”
Rudd said he believes concerns about Scientology may have factored into officials’ decision, though he stressed the Vanto training has no connection to Scientology or the Landmark Forum.
Rudd was named Tarpon Springs city manager in July 2024 after an extensive search. He previously served as city manager of Crescent City, economic development director for New Port Richey and economic development manager and CRA manager in Maitland.
He is credited with crafting an agreement with developers of The Tarpon Registry, a planned boutique hotel and shops on Tarpon Avenue at the long-vacant Forbes lot. He also supported the revival of the Tarpon Main Street Association and had been working to persuade the county to approve a Central CRA in the Union Academy area. He said he had hoped to complete master plans for downtown and recreation and marketing plans to promote the city.
“Tarpon Springs is a great city. I wish the city and staff well,” Rudd said. He said he plans to look for another city manager position.
Scott Young, the city’s former fire chief who recently was promoted to assistant city manager, is serving as acting city manager.
Koulianos said former City Manager Mark LeCouris has been asked to return on an interim basis while the city searches for a permanent replacement. LeCouris retired in January 2025 after 47 years with the city, including 17 as city manager. He rose through the police department ranks, serving as a patrol officer and lieutenant from 1978 to 1993 and as police chief from 1993 to 2009.
Commissioners will discuss the city’s next steps at a May 12 meeting.
Story updated Friday, May 8, with comments from Charles Rudd.