KEYSTONE HEIGHTS – The morning after she turned the keys to the city over to her successor at city hall, Lynn Rutkowski still got up at 5 a.m. and started getting ready for a job she no longer has.

She drove past city hall and noticed a different car parked in a spot that was no longer hers.

That night, she went to bed without a headache, knowing the challenges of running Keystone Heights weren’t her responsibility any longer.

“It’s different, for sure,” she said.

After serving Keystone Heights for nearly 11½ years as the city clerk, interim city manager and city manager, Rutkowski decided to leave city politics and start a new chapter in her career. For now, she’s decompressing and not thinking about any of her options.

“I want to take some time off and rest and get out of the city manager vibe,” she said. “Maybe by February, I will start gearing up again and considering the things I’m passionate about. I’m good with my decision. I’m sure I’ll resurface next month.”

Rutkowski was hired in 2012 as the city clerk. She served as the interim city manager after Scott Kornegay retired in 2020 before the city council hired her a few days later as the full-time replacement. The council also decided not to replace the city clerk’s position.

With a 3-2 vote, the city picked former school superintendent Charlie Van Zant on Jan. 3 from a pool of 13 candidates to replace Rutkowski. The council also hired a new city clerk last month.

Instead of arriving to work before sunrise and leaving after sunset, Rutkowski said she is learning to adjust to a new schedule.

“My son (Jacob) and I sat down and watched the hockey game the first night after I left, and during the intermission, he said it was the first time my phone didn’t ring while we were doing something,” she said. “That made me think. I got a lot done on my first day. There’s certainly a transition, but it’s nice to come home without a headache.”

Her time at city hall came during a critical juncture for Keystone Heights. Like the rest of the world, it endured the struggles associated with the pandemic. Rutkowski convinced the city council and the Board of County Commissioners to spend nearly $750,000 of CARES Act money to rebuild the Keystone Beach Pavillion for food distribution.

“Without a question, I’m very proud of what we accomplished with the Pavillion,” she said. “Years ago, it was a shell of a building. We were able to bring in climate control and refrigeration. Now, it’s rented just about every weekend. There are a lot of functions there.”

Rutkowski also played a leading role in developing a Master Plan to get ahead of growth. There currently are 496 homes in the city, but there are plans to build as many as 500 more on a 13.88-acre sight off Sunrise Boulevard and nearly 37 acres at Fox Run Road.

“If that happens, the number of homes inside the city limits will double,” she said. “That’s a lot. You have to think about the water supply, traffic, parks and other infrastructure projects. These new developments will be geared toward new families, so you must get ahead of them.”

A handful of residents used social media to criticize Rutkowski’s work, especially with the Smart City Initiative. They claim the project will use sensors to provide real-time information on things like local flooding, downed trees and traffic problems and will be used to “spy” on residents. They claimed modernizing its services would cost the city its small-town charm.

“The only way I know how to do things was my way,” Rutkowski said.

Some on the council didn’t want to lose that. They asked if she would rescind the resignation on the same day they interviewed the final three candidates. She declined.

She’s ready to move on, although precisely what that means isn’t clear.