County’s emergency management chief and director of Emergency Services to be guest speakers
On Tuesday, July 14, from 6 to 7:30 p.m., the meeting of the Sarasota County Council of Neighborhood Associations (CONA) will include “an important discussion on hurricane preparedness and emergency management,” leaders of the nonprofit organization have announced.
“The 2024 hurricane season provided many hard lessons for Sarasota County residents,” a news release notes. “CONA President Lourdes Ramirez will open the meeting with a brief presentation sharing lessons she learned from recent storms, including challenges faced by residents before, during, and after hurricane impacts,” the release adds.
“The featured presentation,” it says, “will be led by two of Sarasota County’s top emergency management professionals”: Rich Collins, director of Emergency Services, and Sandra Tapfumaneyi, chief of emergency management.
Collins has “more than 35 years of public safety experience,” having “led preparedness and response efforts for hurricanes, major emergencies, and public safety initiatives throughout his career,” the release continues.
Tapfumaneyi “brings more than 26 years of emergency management experience” to her role, it points out. She led the county’s Emergency Operations Center “through the historic 2024 hurricane season,” which included the October 2024 strike of Hurricane Milton, the release adds. Moreover, it notes, she was a Lee County Emergency Management leader when Hurricane Ian struck Fort Myers in 2022.
The meeting will be conducted at Gulf Gate Library, which stands at 7112 Curtiss Ave. in Sarasota, near Palmer Ranch.
For more information about CONA, visit the website.