County Commission approval came with vote on Consent Agenda
Roland Piccone and Kevin Cooper, both of Sarasota, have been reappointed to Sarasota County’s Public Facilities Financing Advisory Board (PFFAB).
The action came on March 23, as the County Commission voted unanimously to approve its Consent Agenda of routine business matters.
No commissioner offered a comment before that vote, as is usually the case with Consent Agenda items.
The nine-member PFFAB is charged with advising the commission and making recommendations to it “on impact fees, other funding sources, the fiscal impacts of levels of service and other issues relating to the provision and financing of public facilities,” the advisory board’s webpage explains.
Terms are for three years.
During the members’ most recent meeting — conducted on March 31 — the agenda shows they were to hear a report on impact fee collections in the 2020 fiscal year, which ended on Sept. 30, 2020; and they were to review a draft of the county’s Multimodal Improvements and Mobility Fee Update Technical Report.
A March 23 staff memo provided to the commissioners in advance of their meeting that day noted that, because of term expirations, four vacancies existed on the PFFAB. Those vacancies were advertised on the county website, “soliciting interested citizens for appointment,” the memo added.
“Piccone applied for an open position as a Building and Construction representative,” the memo noted, whole Cooper was reapplying to serve another term as a representative in the civic category.
The PFFAB’s makeup is as follows, the county webpage says:
- “Three representatives of public facilities and/or financial professionals.
- “Three representatives of civic organizations.
- “Three representatives of development, building and construction.”
In his application, Piccone noted that he is a professional engineer who is the principal and managing partner of GAP Engineering and Planning LLC. He added that he has “experience with the design and financing of public infrastructure projects.”
He also is a member of the Board of Governors of Suncoast Technical College, the National Society of Engineers, the School Advisory Council and the Florida Engineering Society, he wrote. He is a past chair of the Economic Development Corp. of Sarasota County, he added.
A 36-year-long county resident, Piccone also served for nearly 15 years on the county’s Planning Commission.
His PFFAB term will end on Feb. 28, 2024.
Cooper is vice president of Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium; his responsibilities are communications and strategic initiatives.
Before joining Mote in early 2019, Cooper was president and CEO of the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce.
“I have enjoyed serving on the PFFAB since October of 2014 and wish to continue my service to the [County Commission] and citizens of Sarasota County,” he wrote in his application.
PFFAB attendance records provided to the county commissioners before the March 23 meeting showed that both Piccone and Cooper were present for all of the sessions in 2019 and 2020.
In early February 2018, the County Commission approved the extension of Cooper’s term on the PFFAB by three months, to maintain staggered terms. At that time, Cooper was in his second term on the PFFAB; he originally was set to serve through October 2020.
Cooper also is a member of the county’s Planning Commission, and he sits on the boards of the Forty Carrots Family Center and the Sarasota Tiger Bay Club. He holds a Bachelor of Science in marketing from Kent State University and an MBA from Florida State University.
Cooper’s new term will end on Jan. 31, 2024.
Two of the vacant seats on the PFFAB — referenced in the March 23 staff memo — are for representatives of the financial professional category. The third is for someone in the building and construction category, the board’s webpage says.