Cutsinger and Knight join Neunder in majority
On a 3-1 vote, taken during their regular meeting on April 22, the Sarasota County commissioners canceled a $7.5-million agreement with a nonprofit affiliate of the Suncoast Builders Association that planned to create a trades career program.
That 501(c)(3) nonprofit is the Building Industry Institute.
The funds would have come out of the $201.5 million that the county received from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to respond to unmet needs related to the aftermath of Hurricane Ian’s strike in 2022. That money and another $210,094,000 that the county received this year, to respond to the damage wrought by Tropical Storm Debby and Hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024, are the focus of what county staff has called the Resilient SRQ Programs.
The board members seated in September 2024 agreed to the award to the Suncoast Builders Association, with the money coming out of a $15-million “pot” dedicated related to the county’s economic recovery from Hurricane Ian.
Chair Joe Neunder’s April 22 motion called for the money to be reallocated to another program in the Resilient SRQ Program related to Hurricane Ian.
The decision followed a presentation by Ryan Lieberman, vice president and treasurer of the Suncoast Builders Association, during which he acknowledged that only $1.8 million of the approximately $5.7 million that the organization must raise for the program had been secured. In response to a question from Commissioner Ron Cutsinger, Lieberman also conceded that the $1.8 million was the purchase price of the building that formerly housed the Perkins restaurant, near the intersection of Cattlemen Road and Fruitville Road, close to Interstate 75.
The records maintained by the Sarasota County Property Appraiser’s Office show that Medallion Home at Mt Dora LLC, whose principal is developer Carlos Beruff, paid $1,650,000 for that building on Nov. 19, 2024.
Formally, the Association affiliate, the Building Industry Institute, planned to renovate that structure and construct an addition to it, Lieberman told the commissioners, “to make enough space for the Institute.”
Cutsinger was not the only commissioner this week to express concern in regard to whether the remaining $3.9 million could be raised by the end of February 2026, as called for in the agreement with the county.
For example, after noting that the Institute had applied for a $4-million state grant for the trades career training, Lieberman admitted that only $350,000 had been set aside in the preliminary list for state grants to be awarded during this session of the Legislature.
“Given the climate right now,” Cutsinger told Lieberman, “It seems hard to believe that that’s going to be realized.”
Lieberman acknowledged that although the “ask was $4 million, it’s sitting in ‘budget purgatory’ …” Nonetheless, he contended that the Legislature could end up raising the amount before the session ends in early May.
(Gov. Ron DeSantis does have veto authority over such appropriations. Last year, he used that on numerous appropriations similar to the Suncoast Business Association request.)
Replying to questions posed by both Commissioner Mark Smith and Commissioner Cutsinger, Lieberman stressed, “We’ve had verbal commitments” of in-kind donations and cash. Standing there before the board members, Lieberman added, “Very confident that we can meet the funding requirement …”
Yet, Cutsinger pointed out to him, “It’s been quite a bit of time since this was originally approved …”
Smith at one point addressed Steve Hyatt, a manager in the county’s Office of Financial Management who oversees the Resilient SRQ programs: “Say optimism turns sour,” and the Association did not end up raising the extra money. “What are our options then?”
If the commissioners that day directed county staff to continue working with the Association on completing the terms of the agreement, Hyatt replied, and the Association ended up in violation of the requirements to receive the money, the commissioners could decide how to use the $7.5 million.
“We could come back to the board with some options,” Hyatt added. For example, he said, the funds could be diverted to the “pot” for residential multi-family affordable housing units or the “pot” for voluntary buyouts of homes that sustained major damage from Hurricane Ian.
Commissioners Cutsinger and Tom Knight joined Chair Neunder in voting not to execute the agreement. Commissioner Smith continued to support the Institute plans, as he did last year.
Both Neunder and Cutsinger originally voted against the award to the Institute, citing their support for granting the funds to the Sarasota County School District. The commission already had committed $7.5 million to the district for a program at the Suncoast Technical College (STC) in North Port.
In commenting on his April 22 action, Neunder emphasized, “All great people in this industry,” referring to the trades. However, he also stressed that the Association had no expertise in handling a program such as the one it had proposed. He added of the proposal, “Doesn’t make sense to me as a business guy.”
Further, Neunder said he believed that it would be better for the commissioners to reallocate the $7.5 million to another initiative that was approved for the Hurricane Ian federal funding program, such as improving infrastructure or the construction of affordable housing.
Commissioner Knight seconded the motion.
“I hear you all,” Commissioner Smith told Neunder and Knight. “I knew there was a certain leap of faith with this program, but the need is definitely there. The previous [commission] did see that need for training as part of our economic recovery.”
Smith added, “And I still believe strongly that there’s no better teachers than the folks that are actually doing the work.” He also noted that the representatives of trades businesses who would have been involved in the program would have been able to offer apprenticeships to the students.
Commissioner Teresa Mast did not participate in the vote. Her husband, Jon, is the CEO of the Suncoast Builders Association. She explained during the discussion that she had learned that she ethically could join her colleagues in voting on the issue, because her husband would not be getting “one dime” out of the $7.5 million. However, she said, “So there is no conflict or optics, I will refrain from voting on this …”
In arguing for the agreement with the Association to remain in place, Mast did stress that when the County Commission, “in good faith,” makes a commitment, it follows through on that commitment.
Moreover, she told her colleagues, she had learned that, “As of today, the School Board agreement hasn’t been signed — not even returned [to county staff].” Yet, the Association had returned its agreement to staff “in less than 20 days,” she said.
Hyatt, the manager of the Resilient SRQ programs, told the commissioners that staff had received the signed copy of the Association’s agreement on Feb. 20.
Later, before the vote — indicating that she expected that the majority of her colleagues would end the agreement with the Association —Mast suggested that if it is true that the School Board had not signed the agreement with the county, “I would definitely be in support of pulling all $15 million and making all $15 million go to infrastructure.”
Neunder replied, “Thank you for your comments.”
During the discussion, Mast also pointed out, “I think it’s very important that we look at the fact that school choice is one of the highest priorities in our county.”
Following the vote, Mast made a motion to “pull back” the School Board agreement, and “have it brought back in front of us.” That motion died for lack of a second.
Late in the afternoon of April 22, in regard to Mast’s comment about the School Board agreement, Hyatt provided the following statement to the Sarasota News Leader, in response to its request for information on that point:
“After award of funds, as with all the subrecipients of Resilient SRQ funds, the county is required to conduct a kickoff meeting, a pre-award assessment, a federal environmental review, and negotiate terms of a funding agreement.”
He continued, “The School Board had completed the pre-award assessment, has held a kick off meeting with the county, and assisted with the site inspections required of the federal environmental review and that clearance request is anticipated to be submitted to HUD this week. Additionally, legal counsel with the school board were reviewing the agreement for any concerns and questions and they have since returned it to the county for final comments prior to the school board’s approval of the agreement.
“At this time, there has been no concerns of staff with funding the project and the school board has been a communicative partner in this process for their project. We look forward to continuing to support this Board-approved project,” Hyatt added.
The News Leader also contacted the School District for a comment. On April 23, Kelsey Whealy, manager of media relations and communications for the district, provided the following statement via email, which mirrored Hyatt’s comments: “I received an update from our leadership team this morning. The agreement is currently under review by both the school district’s legal department and the county’s legal department to finalize the terms. Once this process is complete, we’ll be able to move forward.”
Public protests
In late February, Commissioner Knight brought up the Association agreement, noting that county residents had continued to tell him that they were opposed to it.
During the Open to the Public comment period of the board’s Feb. 25 regular meeting, two people urged the commissioners to take back the funds from the Suncoast Builders Association and give the money to the Sarasota County School Board.
Among those, Julie Forestier emphasized to the commissioners that the School District has “a proven track record” in training young people for careers in trades.
On Oct. 23, 2024, when the commission was meeting that day, former School Board Chair Jane Godwin was among four speakers who urged the board members to give the rest of the trades career money to Suncoast Technical College, which is part of the school district. “We have students [at the college in North Port] that are readily available for training and people who have already done training,” Goodwin pointed out.
Knight made a motion later that day that called for County Administrator Jonathan Lewis not to sign the agreement with the Association until the commissioners had had the opportunity to revisit the award. He and Commissioner Mast were elected after the previous commission agreed to the funding. Then-Commissioners Mike Moran and Neil Rainford, joined by Commissioner Smith, made up the majority in that Sept. 10, 2024 vote.
On Feb. 25, Smith won his colleagues’ support for Jon Mast, the CEO of the Suncoast Builders Association, to provide an update on the proposal before a final decision was made on the agreement.
On April 23, during the Open to the Public comment period of the commission meeting, Tom Edwards, a member of the Sarasota County School Board, provided the timeline regarding the School District’s creation of its trades career training program, which he described as “very near and dear” to his heart and to the district.
In 2021, Edwards said, then Superintendent Brennan Asplen III agreed to begin a trades academy, in partnership with the Gulf Coast Builders Exchange in Lakewood Ranch. That program started at Riverview High School, Edwards continued.
In 2023, he said, the district added academies at the Venice and North Port high schools, given the popularity of the Riverview program; the district had seen 90 students applying for the 60 Riverview seats.
After Hurricane Ian struck in September 2022, Edwards pointed out, he and David Verinder, CEO of the Sarasota Memorial Health Care System, began discussing a trades career training program at the Suncoast Technical College in North Port, as South County had sustained extensive damage from the storm.
The health care system contributed $1 million for the construction of the building, Edwards noted, as the program there would include training in health care as well as the trades. The program also is open to adults, he said.
He and the School District, Edwards told the commissioners, are grateful for the $7.5 million award for that program.
On one final note on April 23, Edwards reminded the commissioners that the School District’s application for the HUD funds last year received a score of 86, while the Association proposal scored 41.
Following Edwards’ remarks, Four representatives of the Suncoast Builders Association — including President Debbie Urban, Immediate Past President John Calrson and Lieberman — took turns at the podium to urge the commissioners to support the Association grant.
Facets of the Building Industry Institute program
Before the commissioners began their discussion, Lieberman of the Suncoast Builders Association board of directors provided a slide presentation about the plans for the Institute program.
One key point that he wanted to explain, he noted, was that the $30,000 cost per student cited in county staff documentation about the Institute’s plans “is not completely accurate …” It includes the cost of the building and infrastructure, he pointed out. Over three years, Lieberman continued, the expense per student would be approximately $10,000 per year. The goal is to have 420 students in the program, he added.
“In Year 4,” he continued, the annual expense per students “will actually go down.”
Further, Lieberman explained that the Building Industry Institute would use the trades training curriculum of the Home Builders Institute (HBI), which was founded in 1974. “It is one of the most trusted curriculums in the country for workforce training,” he stressed.
Moreover, he said, the Institute program would target as students those residents making 70% of the Area Median Income for the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton Metropolitan Statistical Area, which would be in keeping with the HUD stipulation that most of the Hurricane Ian relief funds serve low- to moderate-income people.
The students, Lieberman continued, “will have direct access to [Association] membership,” which — he noted — comprises “some of the best trade and business minds in our industry.”
Because of the Association members’ involvement, he added, the students would have “an edge for job placement,” compared to the students who complete the School District’s programs.
Another point he noted is the “rapid in-migration [that Sarasota County] has seen over the last few years. “In fact,” Lieberman said, “we were ranked No. 2 in the country in terms of in-migration” from 2019 to 2021.
“There is a need in our area for skilled labor,” Lieberman emphasized. “We can serve a desperately needed sect of our community.”
When Commissioner Smith asked Lieberman whether the Institute would be providing any scholarships to the students, Lieberman replied that the goal is to use public-private partnerships “to cover the cost of each student.”