Boards expected to discuss issue at joint meeting on Sept. 18
In July 2025, Sarasota County Commissioner Tom Knight won the full support of his board colleagues in calling for a hold for at least a year on any formal discussions between county and City of Sarasota leaders about the transfer of city stormwater responsibilities to the city.
Spencer Anderson, director of the county’s Transportation Department who then was the director of its Public Works Department — which included the Stormwater Division — had pointed out that the county has been responsible for stormwater work in the city since 1998.
During a joint meeting of the City and County commissions in March 2025, Anderson appeared to take city commissioners by surprise when he suggested ending the stormwater interlocal agreement between the local governments.
Anderson noted the increase in county stormwater responsibilities because of the growth of new communities — particularly in the eastern part of the county as one reason the county needed to stop handling the city’s stormwater work. He also explained that a County Commission strategic planning discussion in December 2024, regarding priorities for 2025, called for ending the interlocal agreement with the city.
In 2022, Anderson continued during that March 2025 meeting, when the County Commission approved updated Stormwater Environmental Utility (SEU) assessments within the city and the county — the first time since 2008 that such an undertaking had been pursued — the county ended up adding 87 square miles of the unincorporated areas of the county to its stormwater service area. That was a 40% increase, he added.
On July 1, 2025, after the County Commission voted for the second time to direct County Administrator Jonathan Lewis to establish a new Stormwater Department and advertise for a director of it, Commissioner Knight told the other commissioners, “I think, right now, it would be controversial for our friends in the city if we were to [make them assume the city’s stormwater work].”
He suggested the year-long pause, to allow sufficient time for the new Stormwater Department to be established and take care of overdue maintenance.
In seconding Knight’s motion, Commissioner Mark Smith added, “I believe that it’d be premature to separate the City of Sarasota from the stormwater [work] that we’re dealing with until — in my opinion — we’ve basically got the maintenance … back to where it needs to be.”
That pause formally was lifted last week, at the request of County Administrator Jonathan Lewis.
During the County Commission’s regular meeting on Aug. 25, Stormwater Director Ben Quartermaine, who began his work in that role almost exactly a year earlier, noted during an update to the board that he and members of his staff “continue to meet with the city engineer and the city manager to talk through how the interlocal works, what our responsibilities are, and how we’re working together now, and what that may look like in the future.”
The county commissioners over the past months have applauded Quartermaine and his staff for tackling overdue stormwater maintenance countywide, including within the city. (See the related article in this issue.)
Then, during his remarks to the board that day, Lewis brought up the pause on the stormwater interlocal agreement discussions. “Now the City of Sarasota staff have been bugging us to talk about [that issue],” he said. He had asked new City Manager Karie Friling — who began work in May — to wait on such discussions until he had direction from the County Commission, he continued.
He did not necessarily need a motion from the board, Lewis continued, unless the commissioners wanted to keep the pause in place. If they were comfortable with his re-engaging with city staff, he added, he would do so. Those talks, he noted, would be on “some of the opportunities as it relates to that interlocal and what does that future look like on things they may do versus [what] we may do, and how that would go forward in partnership.”
Lewis indicated his primary focus would be on “who’s paying for what” in the future.
With no member of the board seeking to comment on Lewis’ remarks, Chair Ron Cutsinger told Lewis, “I think there’s consensus” on lifting the pause.
In response to a Sarasota News Leader request for comments from City Manager Friling or City Engineer Sage Kamiya on the issue, city Communications Specialist Luke Mocherman wrote in a Sept. 1 email, “We don’t have any information to share ahead of the joint City-County meeting later this month, where this matter is expected to be discussed.”
That joint meeting is scheduled for Sept. 18 at the new County Administration Center, which is located at 1 Apex Road in Sarasota.