Mast calls for advertising for stormwater engineers and hydrologists to apply for third open seat
With three seats open on the Sarasota County Stormwater Environmental Utility Advisory Committee (SEUAC), the county commissioners agreed unanimously last week to fill two of those seats and then readvertise the third with the specification that stormwater engineers and hydrologists would be the preferred applicants.
Commissioner Teresa Mast initially asked her colleagues on July 8 to pause on making any appointments, “since we’re being very thorough in our processes right now” in regard to stormwater initiatives.
That was when she proposed readvertising all three committee seats, even though five persons had applied for the positions, with the goal of hiring an engineer or hydrologist.
“I think it would be extremely beneficial to us, as a commission, to have that type of expertise on that board,” Mast pointed out. Nonetheless, she added, “I greatly appreciate all those that have applied and want to volunteer their time.”
“I guess I don’t agree,” Commissioner Mark Smith responded, saying he wanted to go ahead and nominate attorney Susan Schoettle-Gumm, who has been serving on the committee; Becky Ayech of Old Miakka, who has been a regular participant over the past years in public hearings regarding applications for new developments in the eastern part of the county; and William Samuels.
Commissioner Ron Cutsinger told his colleagues that he agreed with Mast. “Obviously, this is front and center right now,” he added, referring to stormwater concerns. The persons who had applied for the seats could reapply, Cutsinger noted.
“I didn’t see any real expertise or history on any of these [applicants],” Cutsinger pointed out, that made him feel they should be members of the committee. He conceded, though, “I could be wrong about that.”
However, Cutsinger continued, “It just seems like this is a very specialized area. Obviously, we’re working every angle [to improve the county’s handling of stormwater issues]. I guess I’d like little broader choices here.”
Smith responded, “I don’t disagree.” Yet, he said, he also did not want to hold up the work of the committee.
That was when he pointed out that Schoettle-Gumm had served as an assistant county attorney in years past, with expertise on stormwater matters, and she already had served a term on the committee. “So she is, in my opinion, more than qualified to continue in her role.”
Ayech, he added, “has been a strong community advocate …”
Finally, Smith reminded his colleagues that the open seats had been advertised. “Stormwater is not new in our news.”
“Unfortunately,” he said, no stormwater engineering folks decided to step up.”
Smith also noted that he did not want to “hinder this committee at this very important time.”
Commissioner Tom Knight expressed his appreciation of the comments before pointing out, “We have so many committees, and we review the applications. … We have individuals who want to participate and be part of government.” He was not sure, he continued, that any new applicants would come forward if the commissioners agreed to readvertise the open seats. None of the advisory board members receive compensation, he also noted.
“These boards are here to provide help and guidance,” Knight said. He seconded Smith’s motion, in an effort “to continue to move the process forward …”
At that point, Chair Joe Neunder announced that he did not see any other commissioner seeking an opportunity to speak. He then restated the names of the three persons whom Smith had nominated.
After checking once more for other nominations and seeing none, Neunder said he was prepared to call for the vote.
Then County Attorney Joshua Moye spoke up, informing the commissioners, “William Samuels is currently suing the county right now on a flooding case,” in the event that would change any board member’s mind.
“Well, that’s interesting,” Neunder responded, prompting some chuckles among his colleagues.
(A Sarasota News Leader review of records maintained by Sarasota County Clerk of the Circuit Court and County Comptroller Karen Rushing found that Samuels and his wife filed a civil complaint against the county on June 10, seeking damages of more than $8,000 and less than $50,000. Colonial Oaks residents, they explained that their neighborhood “sustained much flood damage” from Tropical Storm Debby in August 2024; they focused on their three vehicles, which were parked at their home as Debby’s rainfall fell. They pointed out that the repairs to those vehicles “totaled slightly over $14,000.00.”)
(In the complaint, the Samuelses also contended that the flooding in Colonial Oaks resulted partly from a county breach in a berm on the west bank of Cow Pen Slough “behind Rothenbach Park at the end of Bee Ridge Road.”)
(Stephen Suau, a former county stormwater staff member who has his own stormwater consulting business in Sarasota, found that breach last year as he undertook an analysis of flooding in numerous neighborhoods as a result of the approximately 18 inches of rain that was documented in areas of the county, including the Laurel Meadows subdivision. County Public Works Director Spencer Anderson recently has assured the commissioners that that breach has been repaired by county workers.)
After County Attorney Moye informed the board of the Samuels’ litigation, Commissioner Smith said, “I was not aware of that.”
When Neunder asked whether the commissioners could just appoint two members to the Stormwater Committee, Moye replied, “You can appoint from zero to all three.”
“OK,” Smith told him and then amended his motion to nominate just Schoettle-Gumm and Ayech.
Knight seconded it.
Neunder noted that the revised motion implied that the board would ask staff to readvertise the third open seat.
At that point, Mast reprised her earlier recommendation — that the commissioners would like to see the third seat occupied by a stormwater engineer or hydrologist.
The motion passed unanimously, with the understanding that staff would adhere to Mast’s direction.
City Commission appoints Normile to county advisory committee
The previous day, July 7, the Sarasota City Commission appointed former city Commissioner Eileen Normile to one of the two seats on the Stormwater Committee that are reserved for city residents.
Initially, Mayor Liz Alpert appeared to object to Normile’s nomination, which was put forth by Commissioner Kathy Kelley Ohlrich.
Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch seconded the nomination.
“I guess she is the only one who applied,” Alpert noted. “I don’t think we have a big choice.”
Normile won appointment to the City Commission in 2014, following the resignations of two members of that board to run for a County Commission seat. Alpert ran against Normile for the District 2 seat in 2015 and prevailed.
On July 7, before appointing Normile, the commissioners did hear public comments from businessman Martin Hide in regard to the agenda item. He talked of the fact that, in late March, during a joint meeting of the City and County commissions, county Public Works Director Spencer Anderson brought up a proposal to return the management of city stormwater work to the city. Anderson indicated that the County Commission had suggested that action, given the population growth in the county and the need for staff to serve new communities.
However, during the County Commission’s July 1 budget workshop, Commissioner Tom Knight won the unanimous support of his colleagues to put any discussion of those plans on hold for a year. (See the related article in this issue.)
During his July 7 remarks to the City Commission, Hyde pointed to the complexity of the stormwater issues and the likelihood that the city will have to take over its stormwater work in the future. “We need to get as much information from our people involved in this community/countywide type thing [as possible],” he added.
Noting that Normile has “the education and the qualifications to get that information,” Hyde continued, “It’s terribly, terribly important that you support Mrs. Normile …”
In her application, Normile wrote, “Having served on many important Sarasota City boards — as both a member and as Chair — I can use my experience and ability to work effectively and cooperatively with board members to seek solutions that 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.”
She added that she is a member of the Stormwater Resilience Committee of the Coalition of City Neighborhood Associations of Sarasota (CCNA). Her application says she is a delegate from the Hudson Bayou Neighborhood to the CCNA.
In fact, the CCNA Executive Board wrote a letter to the City Commission, expressing its unanimous support for Normile’s appointment to the SEUAC.
Normile also noted in her application that she is a retired criminal prosecutor, having served in that position in the Union County Prosecutor’s Office in Elizabeth, N.J.
The county applicants
In her county application for reappointment to the Stormwater Environmental Utility Advisory Committee, Schoettle-Gumm wrote that she had served one three-year term on the board and wanted to keep working with the other members “and with [county] stormwater staff to continue improving the utility’s efforts on flood control and improving water quality.”
She noted that, as an attorney, she had practiced land-use and government law for more than 37 years, 30 of them in Florida. She was an assistant county attorney for 10 years, she added, in the late 1990s and early 2000s. “During that time,” Schoettle-Gumm wrote, “I was part of the team working on refining the County’s stormwater assessment, validating the assessment with the Florida Supreme Court, and issuing bonds for capital improvements in multiple drainage basins. I was the primary in-house legal support for the stormwater assessments, basin master plans, refunding of outstanding bonds, and expenditures of stormwater assessment revenue. I also was part of the negotiations and implementation of bringing the City of Sarasota into the County’s stormwater utility.”
Ayech wrote in her application that she is retired, though she also is a “sustainable farmer.” She added that she wanted to serve on the committee because of her strong focus on the county’s handling of stormwater, “specifically with the new … rules that focus on performance rather than design standards.”
Further, Ayech pointed out that she had “been interested in Florida’s water both surface and groundwater since the early 1980s.” Moreover, she noted, as president of the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida, she “led the fight” for state efforts to improve water quality. “I have worked for over 40 years on a regional level regarding water quality and quantity and would now like to work at the local level,” she added.
Samuels, a Sarasota resident, noted that he is a semi-retired home improvement contractor whose business is called Quality Painting.
“I have 40 years invested in this County,” he continued, noting that “it is my home.” Samuels also wrote that he is a “lifetime outdoorsman and conservationist,” with “building trades knowledge, and business acumen.”
A fourth applicant, Elizabeth Gray of Sarasota, wrote that she is a hair stylist with her own salon on Main Street in Sarasota.
Responding to the application question about why she wanted to serve on the SEUAC, she explained, “We are at a pivotal point in Sarasota and all of Florida. Water and where it travels is important to all of us. I want to be involved in the future of my hometown.”
The fifth applicant was Steven Zenker, also of Sarasota. He is an executive vice president of Investor Relations, he wrote.
Zenker wants to serve on the committee, he noted, “[t]o help protect our local waterways and community from pollution and flooding, ensuring a healthier and more resilient environment for all.”
He added, “I have significant experience with strategy and financial matters, and have served on non-profit boards in the past. I bring a homeowner’s perspective to the council.”