Stormwater consultant Suau proposed as interim director
Although the Sarasota County commissioners voted in early June to direct County Administrator Jonathan Lewis to establish a separate Stormwater Department, Commissioner Tom Knight this week wanted to ensure that Lewis was adhering to that direction.
Therefore, following a number of public comments about stormwater issues during the beginning of the board’s July 1 budget workshop, Knight offered a new motion that essentially reprised the June 3 motion. He added that the department should have “a dedicated expert” as its leader, and that person should report directly to the county administrator instead of an assistant county administrator.
“I believe that that would help in restoring public confidence in the county’s stormwater work,” Knight said.
Commissioner Mark Smith seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously, as the previous one did.
“We work for the citizens,” Knight pointed out, emphasizing the need to restore their trust in county operations.
Smith also pointed out, “We do need subject matter experts heading up our stormwater [department]. With all due respect to the current folks, it hasn’t worked out.”
Commissioners this week proposed the prospect of hiring Stephen Suau of Sarasota, a stormwater consultant who worked in the county’s stormwater program a number of years ago, as interim director of the new department.
In fact, at the start of the board members’ continued stormwater discussions during their July 2 budget workshop, Smith announced that, that morning, he “took the liberty” of calling Suau to find out whether he would be interested in taking the position on a temporary basis. Suau expressed his willingness to do so, Smith added.
“He looks forward to hearing from Jonathan,” Smith told his colleagues.
On July 1, Lewis announced that, based on the June 3 board action, staff already was prepared to begin advertising for a director of the department. In fact, as soon as the board voted again that day to direct him to proceed with that effort, Deputy County Administrator Steve Botelho left the Think Tank in the downtown Sarasota County Administration Center to make sure the advertisement went live on the county website, Lewis noted. (The board budget workshops traditionally are held in that third floor facility.)
When Commissioner Smith inquired as to whether Lewis had any idea about the timeline for getting the new employee on board, Lewis replied, “We’ve talked to a variety of … stormwater experts” who had reached out to county staff about their interest in the position.
Lewis did acknowledge, “It is hard to compete with the private sector, but we do believe that we will get a good pool of folks who do both know our system locally, as well as understand the broader context of stormwater.”
The hiring will be done “with all due haste,” Lewis added. “I can provide weekly updates to the board” as the advertising continues, he said.
On July 2, Lewis reported that staff members already had heard from some individuals since the job posting went live on July 1.
Endorsements for Suau’s hiring as the interim department director
During the July 1 discussion, Smith told Lewis, “I believe we are under an emergency, especially since we’re in hurricane season.” Perhaps installing a temporary director would be prudent, Smith continued, “if this hiring process drags out long.”
“I don’t disagree,” Lewis responded.
“ ‘Urgency’ is the word of the day,” Smith said.
Chair Neunder asked whether Smith was thinking that an interim director should be hired for several months.
“If I’m being perfectly honest,” Neunder added, “I’m in favor of something along those lines, that we have an independent third party come in to kind of assess [the stormwater situation] before we make the final hire.”
Neunder reiterated the word “urgency.”
“We’ve all been educated on the speed of government,” Smith replied. “We do know some folks that … have the expertise we could perhaps approach and ask [to serve] on a temporary basis,” he continued. “I’d like to see somebody here next week, quite frankly.”
When Smith asked Lewis how long it normally takes to hire department directors, Lewis responded, “It varies. Typically,” he added, staff does not have as much advance notice, as it did on this occasion, to prepare to advertise for a position.
Moreover, Lewis told the board members, staff has spoken with representatives of “a couple of different firms who … only do environmental policy and advocacy with things like the [U.S. Army Corps of Engineers], a lot of state DEP [Florida Department of Environmental Protection] expertise,” which could supplement the staffing for the new department in the interim.
Three of the speakers who addressed the board members during the July 1 Open to the Public comment period that morning called on them to hire stormwater consultant Suau of Sarasota as the interim department director. One person pointed out that Suau had let residents know that he would be willing to handle that responsibility for the short term.
In November 2024, working independently of county staff, Suau produced a series of recommendations that he said he believes will prevent the type of flooding that residents experienced during Tropical Storm Debby’s rainfall in early August 2024.
In fact, Commissioner Knight won full support of his colleagues for a second motion he made on July 1. That called for the county Public Works Department staff to provide the commissioners a detailed report, during their regular meeting on July 8, in regard to staff’s efforts to implement the recommendations that Suau made last year.
Knight also asked that staff ensure that the report is provided in such a manner that it will be easy for community residents to understand it.
If staff has been unable to address some of the points, Knight continued, he also wanted details about those issues.
Neunder seconded the motion.
Knight emphasized that he perceives Suau’s recommendations “as a living, breathing document that guides us toward success.”
Ultimately, on July 1, the commissioners agreed that they would wait until they hold their two regular meetings next week to give further consideration to hiring an interim Stormwater Department director. Lewis said he would have an update for them at that time. Then if they wished to give him more direction, he added, he would proceed accordingly.
Neunder said he would make certain to launch a discussion on the topic next week, “looking for an immediate, almost instantaneous evaluation of stormwater [operations],” as the commissioners await the hiring of the director.
“The understanding should be that this is a 24/365 job,” Neunder stressed to Lewis. “It’s going to require a lot of synergy and updates to you and this board” and the community.
Neunder also asked that Lewis provide him copies of any applications turned in to county staff, plus information about the consulting firms that Lewis had mentioned. “At the end of the day,” Neunder stressed, “we need to get down to actual work.”
Lewis responded, “We try to share as much of that stuff with the board as we can, so we will absolutely provide [those materials] to you …”
“Thank you very much,” Neunder replied.