TAMPA -- Hillsborough County Administrator Pat Bean has announced a long-anticipated shakeup of the county's Affordable Housing Office in the wake of troubles there.

Affordable Housing Officer Howie Carroll, as expected, is out, shifted over to the county's Debt Management Department. He had been serving in an interim capacity for several months after the agency was blamed for forfeiting $2-million in grant money last year because it failed to meet deadlines for committing the dollars.

Mike Merrill, the county's Debt Management Director who was recently elevated to a position of administrator of utilities and commerce, will have affordable housing officer added to his job title. Having an affordable housing officer, separate from the county's long-troubled Affordable Housing Office and reporting directly to Bean, has been a recommendation of the county's Affordable Housing Task Force.

In Merrill, Bean has tapped a strong leader in county government who has the trust of commissioners to right the county's efforts to promote affordable housing. Though his most recent focus has been managing how the county borrows money, he has a background in real estate.

Finally, the Affordable Housing Office will become a full-fledged department again, albeit one of the smaller ones in the county. Valmarie Turner, a relatively new hire in the office who has nevertheless played a critical role in helping get it into compliance with federal standards, becomes the director of the department.

-- Bill Varian, Times Staff Writer