Steve Spina, PhD.

Steve retired in 2019 from the City of Zephyrhills, where he served as city manager for 20 years and in the planning department prior to his tenure as city manager. 

As City Manager, Steve managed a $56 million budget, including three enterprise funds, and supervise 170 employees. The full service municipal government included public safety, public works and utilities, sanitation, municipal airport and library/museum.

As the Director of Development Steve assisted in authoring city’s comprehensive plan and land development code; coordinated all planning, growth management and zoning issues.  He also initiated grant writing programs for the city and oversaw restoration of historic railroad depot and other community historical structures and developed Main Street program for downtown district.

Steve has authored several journal articles on racial injustice issues and naming of streets after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and is the executive producer of a documentary film, “Zephyrhills, America: Stories Seldom Told,” an oral history of the African American community in Zephyrhills.  

Steven currently serves as a visiting instructor at the University of South Florida, in the School of Public Affairs (SPA), Master of Public Administration (MPA) program. He has taught as an adjunct and visiting instructor previously at USF, in both the MPA program and Criminal Justice program.  Among the courses he has taught are Ethics and Public Service, Labor Relations, Research Methods, Policy Analysis, Strategic Planning, Introduction to Public Administration, among others. 

He received his undergraduate degree in Mass Communications from USF and an MPA, also from USF.  He has both a master’s degree and doctorate in Political Science from the University of Florida, with a dissertation: “Walk the High Road: Camouflaging Racism and the Florida Experience Along Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard”

He is a member of the Florida City/ County Manager’s Association (FCCMA), serves as a Board Member for the Suncoast Chapter of American Society of Public Administrators (ASPA), and the International City/County Management Association (ICMA). 

Steve is also a member of Pi Alpha Alpha, a Public Administration Honorary Society