Both win unanimous support
A former Sarasota city commissioner and the stormwater consultant who investigated a number of issues related to the 2024 storm season — and offered an array of recommendations to the County Commission — are the newest members of the county’s Stormwater Environmental Utility Advisory Committee (SEUAC), thanks to a Sept. 24 unanimous vote of the County Commission.
Eileen Walsh Normile, who served on the City Commission in 2014 and 2015, and stormwater consultant Stephen Suau of Sarasota won their appointments when the commission voted 4-0 to approve the Sept. 24 Consent Agenda of routine business matters. Both will serve three-year terms, as noted in a county staff memo included in the agenda packet for the Sept. 24 meeting.
Commissioner Ron Cutsinger was absent from that meeting.
The memo explained that because of the expiration of the term of one SEUAC committee member “and residency requirements,” the committee had a single at-large seat vacancy and one City of Sarasota representative vacancy. County staff coordinated with City of Sarasota staff to advertise the city vacancy, the memo continued. The at-large seat vacancy was advertised on the county website, the memo noted.
During its regular meeting on July 7, the Sarasota City Commission voted to recommend Normile for service as a city representative on the SEUAC, the memo added.
As its webpage explains, the Stormwater Environmental Utility Advisory Committee supports and advises “the Stormwater Environmental Utility in the development of Stormwater-related goals and objectives.”
The committee has 10 seats. The chair is a former assistant county attorney, Susan Schoettle-Gumm, who worked with stormwater issues while she was a county employee.
Interest in service on the SEUAC
In her county application, Normile wrote that she is a retired criminal prosecutor with the Union County Prosecutor’s Office in Elizabeth, N.J. She pointed out that she was admitted to the Bars of New Jersey and Washington, D.C.
Normile added that she learned about the SEUAC vacancy from the county website and also heard it discussed during a meeting of the City Coalition of Neighborhood Associations of Sarasota (CCNA). Further, Normile wrote in her application that she is a member of the CCNA’s Stormwater Resilience Committee. She noted that she has been a delegate to the CCNA for the Hudson Bayou Neighborhood since 2024.
In a letter to the City Commission dated June 30, Kelly Brown, president of the CCNA Executive Committee, endorsed Normile’s effort to win a seat on the SEUAC. Referring to Normile’s qualifications, Brown wrote, “As you can see by her application Ms. Normile has a long history of civic engagement at the highest levels and has the skills and experience to represent the City of Sarasota well on this very important board.”
In response to the application question about her interest in serving on the committee, Walsh wrote, “Having served on many important Sarasota City boards — both as a member and as Chair — I can use my experience and ability to work effectively and cooperatively with board members to seek solutions that will result in realistic recommendations. Today’s decisions about the handling of storm water will impact the viability of our area for years to come — perhaps forever.”
Normile noted in her application that she was vice chair of the most recently appointed City of Sarasota Charter Review Committee, serving from August 2021 to March 2022. Moreover, she was a member of the city’s Planning Board from 2017 to 2020, during part of which time she was chair.
In his application, Suau wrote that the reason he wanted to serve on the SEUAC was to “[g]ive back to community and help provide: (1) stormwater/hydrology perspective; (2) institutional knowledge; and (3) continuity between [the County Commission], Administration and the SEU to the SEUAC.”
Having become a city of Sarasota resident — which he mentioned during the County Commission’s Sept. 5 Stormwater Workshop — Suau also noted that he is active with the CCNA as a Gilespie Park representative.
Further, he wrote that his “company provides stormwater consultation services to Sarasota County.”
County Administrator Jonathan Lewis hired Suau this summer to undertake specific tasks as county staff was making the transition from handling stormwater work under the supervision of what was the Public Works Department to addressing stormwater through a new department that the County Commission unanimously authorized in June and then reaffirmed in early July.
Ben Quartermaine — a former county stormwater employee, like Suau — is the director of the Stormwater Department.
During that Sept. 5 Stormwater Workshop, Quartermaine commented on his long association with Suau, whom Quartermaine called his mentor.
In his resume, which was attached to the application for the SEUAC seat, Suau noted that he earned a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from the University of Illinois and a master’s degree in engineering from Bradley University, which is in Peoria, Illinois.
Regarding his past employment with the county, Suau wrote, “As program director of Sarasota County’s Stormwater Environmental Utility, oversaw the development of detailed floodplain models and digital maps for unincorporated County as well as the cities of Sarasota and Venice. This program received the 2002 James Lee Whitt Local Award for Excellence from the Association of State Floodplain Managers.”
Further, he pointed out, “Developed a plan for restoration of the Dona Bay watershed, assisted in the acquisition of strategic lands, and led a multidisciplinary team of engineers, scientists, and biologists to formulate the implementation of specific restoration goals.”
Moreover, Suau wrote, he served as a technical adviser and co-author of the Gulf Coast Community Foundation’s Community Playbook for Healthy Waterways.