Action came after July 9 meeting with County Administrator Lewis
Sarasota County Administrator Jonathan Lewis notified the county commissioners on Wednesday, July 9, that Assistant County Administrator Mark Cunningham, who had been responsible for oversight of the county’s Public Works Department — including the Stormwater Division — had resigned.
In an email he sent to the commissioners at 6:32 a.m. on July 10, Lewis wrote the following:
“I spoke with or left messages for all of you late yesterday. Yesterday afternoon I had a meeting with Mark Cunningham and he has resigned from the county effective July 31st.
“His direct reports had already been assigned to someone else on the administration team with the exception of transportation,” Lewis continued. “Those reassignments will remain until further notice. The only remaining department, transportation, has been reassigned [to] Steve.”
“Steve” is Steve Botelho, deputy county administrator and the county’s chief financial management officer for the county.
In response to a Sarasota News Leader request on the morning of July 10 for a county statement about Cunningham’s departure, Genevieve Judge, the county’s public information and community outreach manager, provided the following via email: “On July 9, Sarasota County Administrator Jonathan Lewis accepted Assistant County Administrator Mark Cunningham’s resignation. After 13 years of employment with Sarasota County Government, Cunningham will step down from his role on July 31. County administration is reviewing the hiring process moving forward.”
Cunningham’s resignation came exactly two weeks after Lewis informed the commissioners via email that he was reassigning Cunningham “to allow him to focus exclusively on stormwater efforts.”
The news about Cunningham in some ways mirrors the departure of a county department chief slightly more than six years ago.
In the spring of 2019, Scott Schroyer, who had served as director of what was then the county’s Public Utilities Department, left his position after County Administrator Lewis learned from leaders of nonprofit organizations that they were planning to file a federal lawsuit against the county over the spills of nearly 1 billion gallons of reclaimed water from the county’s largest wastewater treatment plant, the Bee Ridge Water Reclamation Facility, which stands at 5550 Lorraine Road in Sarasota.
The complaint also contended, “The County has reported numerous overflows of raw sewage from the County’s sewer lines, manholes, pump stations” and various other sections of its overall collection system. The spills had been documented in forms that county staff had had to file with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), the nonprofits said.
During a June 2019 interview with the News Leader, Lewis said that he was unaware of the millions of gallons of discharges until he saw the formal letter of notice from the parties preparing to file the federal lawsuit. His initial reaction, he added, was, “It just can’t be right.”
Lewis noted that Public Utilities Department employees were working on solutions. Yet, he pointed out, the details about the problems “didn’t get escalated up as far as they should have. … Information could have flowed differently.”
He believed staff “would have told us about it by now,” Lewis added of the ongoing discharges that violated the Bee Ridge plant’s operating permit from FDEP.
Lewis declined to comment on Schroyer’s departure.
Demands for stormwater maintenance
In January, residents who live along Phillippi Creek began urging the County Commission to take steps to clear out sediment in that waterway that ultimately had led to the flooding of hundreds of homes during the 2024 storm season.
In conducting three stormwater workshops so far this year, the commissioners learned that the creek had not been dredged since 2000. They began focusing on the need for a higher level of countywide maintenance by the Stormwater Division, whose manager was Paul Semenec, a 25-year county employee.
They also have had numerous exchanges with Spencer Anderson, director of Public Works, about steps that county staff has taken and needs to take in regard to that maintenance.
Ultimately, on June 3, the board members voted to direct County Administrator Lewis to create a new Stormwater Department. On July 7, Lewis announced that a former county stormwater employee, Ben Quartermaine, a stormwater project manager with the Stantec consulting firm in Sarasota, would head up that department. (See the related article in this issue.)
Cunningham’s employment history and background
On Aug. 23, 2012, then-County Administrator Randall Reid appointed Cunningham an assistant county administrator; Cunningham was scheduled to join the staff on Sept. 24, 2012.
Reid — the former Alachua County manager who became the Sarasota County administrator in January 2012 — said that Cunningham “[shared] the values and goals that make Sarasota County a premier county government.”
The announcement further noted that Cunningham would be relocating to the county from Denton, Texas, where he had been the executive director of planning and development. “He also has been director of land development in Polk County,” the announcement said.
“Cunningham has an extensive background in growth management, infill development and strategic and long-term planning. He has been a development review planner for Baltimore County and Fredrick County, Md. He also has served in planning and zoning positions in Charles County, Md., and Jacksonville, N.C.,” the announcement pointed out.
Cunningham has a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Baltimore, the announcement continued. He is a Certified Public Manager, it noted, and a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners.
Additionally, the announcement said that Cunningham would be working with then-county Public Works Director James K. Harriott Jr. to coordinate activities involving planning, development and construction.
In July 2024, the Sarasota County Government LinkedIn account featured a post saying that Cunninham, a veteran, would be leading the Pledge of Allegiance at a County Commission meeting. Often, a member of the staff who is a veteran is asked to handle that duty during the board meetings.
The LinkedIn post pointed out, “Cunningham served eight years in the U.S. Marine Corps as a Sergeant (E-5). While he was primarily based at the 2nd Force Service Support Group at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina, Mark spent several years deployed to Japan, Spain, France, Italy, Turkey, Israel and other locations in the Middle East Region. Mark was honorably discharged in 1991 after serving a combat tour during Desert Storm.”
That post added, “For his service, he has been awarded the Good Conduct Medal (1 star), Sea Service Deployment Ribbon (2 stars), Southwest Asia Service Medal (2 stars), National Defense Service Medal, Rifle Expert Badge, and numerous letters of Commendation.”
In February 2017, the Tampa Bay times reported that Cunningham had applied for the position of administrator of Pasco County. He was one of five finalists, the publication said.
The Pasco County Commission decision about those finalists came the same day that then-Sarasota County Administrator Tom Harmer announced the conditional hiring of Lewis — then the North Port city manager — to replace Assistant County Administrator Jonathan Evans, who was taking the position of manager of the City of Riviera Beach.