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Polk County’s removal of Stacy Campbell-Domineck as CEO of CareerSource Polk on Tuesday, Oct. 6, has resolved one question about her public leadership. But it has intensified another: whether she should remain on Lakeland’s housing authority board.
In an 855-word statement to LkldNow, Commissioner Guy LaLonde Jr. said that Tuesday’s action “strengthens my concern” about Campbell-Domineck’s continued board service. “In my opinion, she should resign,” he said.
The debate comes amid a broader, yearlong controversy over the Lakeland Housing Authority (LHA). Residents and former employees have raised complaints about transparency, oversight, and treatment of residents and workers.
Community activist Harlem Turner, a 30-year Polk County resident who has repeatedly pressed for LHA board changes, said commissioners no longer have reason to wait. “The outcome has come. The decision has been made,” he wrote to LkldNow, renewing his call for Campbell-Domineck to step down.
Former Mayor Bill Mutz recommended Campbell-Domineck as an LHA commissioner, or board member, in 2024. Campbell-Domineck’s first four-year term began Dec. 3, 2024, and runs through Dec. 2, 2028, according to city appointment records.
Any action by the city of Lakeland to remove her from the LHA board would have to clear a different legal hurdle.
City Attorney Palmer Davis told commissioners Sept. 8 that even temporary removal from LHA would require “some kind of a due process proceeding before taking that action.”
Dig deeper into the LHA controversy
Housing and workforce ties
Founded in 1939, LHA provides affordable housing, rental assistance, and programs to help lower-income residents become more self-sufficient. Its 2025 annual report says it provided Section 8 assistance to 1,746 families.
On Aug. 4, Polk County commissioners approved a memorandum of understanding (MOU) and infrastructure funding agreement between CareerSource Polk and LHA through June 2029, coordinating workforce services, customer access, and shared costs.
The agencies also intersect through YouthBuild Lakeland, an LHA program providing education, construction training, leadership development, and employment preparation for young adults. Campbell-Domineck’s LHA biography credits her with strengthening CareerSource’s work with YouthBuild, including securing added participant stipends and helping graduates find jobs.
LaLonde contends that Campbell-Domineck’s involvement with both organizations warrants independent scrutiny of the MOU, related approvals, disclosures, recusals, and board oversight.
Commissioner Ashley Troutman offered a counterpoint at the Sept. 8 City Commission meeting. “That’s not a conflict of interest,” he said of CareerSource’s support for YouthBuild. “It’s supportive of your duties as a board member.”
Similarly, Mutz sees Campbell-Domineck’s LHA and CareerSource Polk positions differently. “They are unrelated responsibilities, and she has been a strong member of the housing authority as a board member,” Mutz told LkldNow.
What removal requires
Under Florida law governing housing authorities, a board member may be removed for “inefficiency or neglect of duty or misconduct in office.” The mayor acts with concurrence of the City Commission after written charges, at least 10 days’ notice, and an opportunity for a hearing.
Davis said Sept. 8 that the statute “seems to focus” on conduct related to a member’s LHA service. Commissioner Terry Coney similarly told LkldNow that any removal of Campbell-Domineck should be based on her “performance or lack of performance” on the LHA board.
Polk County commissioners voted 3-2 Tuesday to remove Campbell-Domineck as CareerSource CEO “with cause” and unanimously removed the workforce agency’s board. But that action does not automatically establish cause for Lakeland to remove her from LHA.
Davis said Monday the city would be on “much stronger grounds” if outside investigators substantiated a violation or crime and the LHA board then failed to act. He cited the State Attorney’s Office and Florida Commission on Ethics as examples.
Long-running LHA concerns
LaLonde argues Campbell-Domineck’s continued service should be judged alongside broader LHA oversight concerns. He has questioned whether she and other board members adequately oversaw Executive Director Ben Stevenson and addressed longstanding complaints.
Speaking Monday as commissioners discussed Campbell-Domineck’s status, LaLonde said, “Sooner or later, we’re going to have to make a decision of what cause is or how we interpret cause. And I want to know how that is not cause.”
From left: Don Brown, Harlem Turner, Naquaisha Coward, Daryl Bouyer, Tareva Thomas and Janet Lockett. | Cindy Glover, LkldNow
In August 2025, he called for an independent investigation of LHA amid complaints involving governance, transparency, and treatment of residents and employees.
The dispute deepened after Stevenson wrote last October that the LHA board had declined LaLonde’s requested audit. LkldNow later found the matter had not appeared on an agenda, been publicly discussed, or received a board vote.
At a July 20 City Commission meeting, Stevenson acknowledged the request had not been presented to the board. He maintained another forensic review was unnecessary, citing more than a decade of clean financial and compliance audits.
Pressure to act
Lakeland resident Tekila Brown, who later stated online that her mother was terminated from LHA and has spent more than a year raising concerns about the agency, also pressed commissioners to act Monday.
“We’re not asking you to disregard this process,” Brown said. “We’re asking you to begin the process.”
Mayor Sara Roberts McCarley has acknowledged the sustained public outcry over LHA governance, while stressing that any removal must be based on evidence that can “stand up in a court of law and not just in public opinion.”
Mutz, who defended Campbell-Domineck’s LHA board service and praised her “high character,” told LkldNow the controversy may resolve without a removal proceeding.
“I suspect that, rather than being a distraction to LHA, she will voluntarily resign,” said Mutz. “That would be my expectation. Time will tell.”
No removal proceeding has been initiated. LkldNow reached out to Campbell-Domineck through her attorney for comment but had received no response by publication time.
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