Commissioners offer praise for both during abbreviated evaluations this week
On Oct. 22, during their first regular meeting since Hurricane Milton left a trail of damage across the county that totaled hundreds of millions of dollars, the Sarasota County commissioners lauded the leadership of County Administrator Jonathan Lewis and his staff before unanimously approving a 5% raise for Lewis for the 2025 fiscal year.
In the same motion, the board members agreed to give County Attorney Joshua Moye a 5% raise, as well.
In response to a Sarasota News Leader inquiry, Genevieve Judge, the county’s public information and community outreach manager, reported via email on Oct. 23 that Lewis’ new base salary will be $284,252.80. For Moye, it will be $262,953.60.
In 2021 and 2022, the commissioners approved 10% raises for Lewis. In 2023, then-Chair Ron Cutsinger indicated that those decisions were made to boost his salary to a level commensurate for a person serving as county administrator.
In 2020, Lewis received a 3% raise.
When the board formally named Lewis county administrator in early 2018, his pay was $195,000 a year, which was less than the $207,625.60 that previous County Administrator Tom Harmer was earning when he left county employment in late 2017 to become town administrator for the Town of Longboat Key.
In October 2023, the commissioners also voted unanimously to provide 5% raises to both Lewis and Moye. Moye had just been named county attorney in late April 2023, following the retirement of County Attorney Frederick “Rick” Elbrecht. Nonetheless, the fall is the time frame when the board members typically handle the annual evaluations.
Taking a different tack this week
In introducing the agenda item on Oct. 22, Chair Michael Moran pointed out that the commissioners had the discretion to handle the process as they chose that day.
In the past, almost all of the board members have filled out copies of the same form, checking boxes on a wide variety of points related to the work of both the county administrator and the county attorney and then generally including written comments to supplement the checkmarks. However, the News Leader found no written forms filed as part of the agenda packet for the Oct. 22 meeting. In response to its filing of a public records request, Public Records Coordinator Cynthia West wrote in an Oct 23 email, “Sarasota County reviewed its files and determined that no records exist.”
During the Oct. 22 meeting, Moran suggested that he could pass the gavel to Vice Chair Joe Neunder on Oct. 22 and make a motion for a 5% raise for both Lewis and Moye.
“I don’t think words can do justice here on what’s happened,” Moran said, “especially over the last few weeks.”
Lewis’ and Moye’s positions are the only two that the board members appoint, Moran continued. “They do the will of this board,” he added, with its guidance to act in the best interests of the county taxpayers.
No better example of their influence, Moran continued, was how activities were conducted in the county’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) as staff dealt with Tropical Storm Debby and then Hurricanes Helene and Milton. The EOC was functioning at high, designated emergency levels, Moran noted, for about 85 to 90 days.
“It’s just staggering, what we’ve had to deal with,” he added, with county employees handling “ ’round-the-clock shifts during those storms,” sleeping and also eating their meals at the EOC.
“These folks are away from their friends and their families while we’re doing our darnedest to help others with their families and their situations,” Moran pointed out. “All of that comes from leadership and having the attitude go all the way down to the absolute daily behaviors of this organization.”
“I couldn’t agree more” with Moran’s remarks, Commissioner Cutsinger said. Referring to Lewis, Cutsinger added, “I can’t imagine a better leader to take us through … the past several years,” including Hurricane Ian’s strike on Southwest Florida in September 2022. That produced considerable damage from which the county already was recovering before this storm season began, Cutsinger noted.
Looking out at the people in the Commission Chambers of the R.L. Anderson Administration Center in Venice, Cutsinger said he could see a number of county department directors that morning. Lewis put “together a team that’s just unparalleled in the state,” Cutsinger added.
Commissioner Neil Rainford also noted his experiences in the EOC, saying, “It was impressive to watch” the results of Lewis’ leadership.
“I have a different point of view” on the storms, Commissioner Mark Smith pointed out, adding that he was a victim of them, as a Siesta Key resident. “My power and water were turned off for the safety of others,” Smith said.
Smith, too, commended the “responsiveness of staff,” adding that, until this year, the county had not had a direct hit by a major hurricane since Donna in 1960.
Further, Smith praised the efforts of county staff to try to ensure that all residents of the county’s barrier islands — including Siesta — evacuated ahead of Hurricane Milton’s arrival. (County Emergency Management Chief Sandra Tapfumaneyi had stressed reports of the National Hurricane Center that storm surge could be as high as 15 feet on the barrier islands, given Milton’s strength as it approached the coast.)
Smith emphasized the messaging of county staff, which “really took hold,” especially two weeks after Hurricane Helene’s storm surge on Siesta produced extensive damage.
Smith thanked Lewis for Lewis’ service and able leadership.
Then Smith turned to County Attorney Moye, saying jokingly, “Eh, he’s OK.”
Commissioner Neunder took the last turn at comments during the discussion: “I think the analogy I would use over the past couple of weeks here is maybe ‘drinking from a fire hose’ …”
He told Lewis, “I know that, sometimes, dealing with all of our citizen concerns, your board [of commissioners], your staff — it can seem completely daunting.”
Yet, Neunder continued, still addressing Lewis, “I think you handle the stress and manage it very well.”
Neunder, too, applauded Lewis’ leadership abilities.
Turning to Moye, Neunder said, “Josh, it’s been great working with you.”
Neunder noted teasingly that Moye has to put up with Neunder’s bevy of lawyer jokes.