The top floors of Boston City Hall. Mayor Michelle Wu has declined to include the most vocal critics of her policy proposals to advisory committees meant to find compromise on housing issues.
The latest personnel shake-up at the Boston Planning & Development Agency includes the departure of its director of planning since 2020.
Lauren Shurtleff submitted her resignation along with Chief of Staff Heather Campisano and the agency’s spokesperson, Bonnie McGilpin.
Shurtleff was elevated to interim director of planning in early 2019 and named to the position permanently in September 2020, which includes responsibilities overseeing more than two dozen planning studies.
The departures were first reported in the Boston Globe. A full-time BPDA staffer since 2000, Campisano was named chief of staff in 2014 after former Mayor Marty Walsh took office and named Brian Golden to lead the agency.
McGilpin joined the agency in 2016 after serving as Walsh’s press secretary, and previously worked in communications for former Gov. Deval Patrick and press secretary for gubernatorial candidate Martha Coakley.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to work alongside [BPDA Director Arthur] Jemison over the past few months, and will be rooting for him and the new administration, especially all my BPDA colleagues (and friends!), who so often do not receive the praise they deserve,” McGilpin wrote in an email announcing her departure.
The trio has a combined 45 years of experience at Boston City Hall, including BPDA roles.
Jemison, Mayor Michelle Wu’s choice to lead the agency that she has blamed for poor planning of Boston’s recent development boom, has said one of his top priorities is finding staff to fill vacancies and appealed to the local real estate industry to help fill the talent pipeline. Vacancies are delaying review of projects, Jemison said, at a time when the agency has 42 million square feet of active development proposals.
The BPDA currently lists 32 open positions.
Change also is coming to the agency’s board of directors with the departure of Treasurer Carol Downs, after a seven-year tenure on the five-member panel.
