Feb. 15 deadline set for completing online survey

Sarasota County staff is inviting community members “to participate in the newly launched Resilient SRQ unmet needs survey to provide feedback for the county’s recovery action plan,” county staff announced on Jan. 27.
On Jan. 16, the Federal Register formally announced that the county would receive $210,094,000 directly from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to deal with the aftermaths of Tropical Storm Debby and Hurricanes Helene and Milton, which wreaked significant damage countywide in 2024.
“The survey results will help guide the use of funds for recovery efforts” following those storms, a county news release explained.
In 2023, county staff “created the Resilient SRQ program to manage recovery efforts for Hurricane Ian using $201.5 million in Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds” from HUD, that release pointed out.
Altogether, between the prior allocation for Hurricane Ian and this new grant, “the county will administer a total of $411,629,000 in funding for recovery and mitigation efforts from the 2022, 2023 and 2024 disasters,” the release noted.
However, less than a day after county staff began encouraging the public to participate in the survey, Rob Lewis, the county’s governmental relations director, alerted the County Commission to a Jan. 27 memo issued by the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which “ordered [a] government-wide freeze on all grants and loans disbursed by the federal government to allow time to assess consistency with President’s Trump’s agenda. Agencies have until February 10 to submit detailed lists of projects suspended under the new order,” Lewis pointed out in a Jan. 28 email to the board.
“We’re tracking this very closely,” Lewis continued in his email. “While this action could delay some funding awards in fiscal year 2025 as well as fiscal year 2024 for funds that are still pending award, our lobbyist remains confident that ultimately these new funding notices will proceed, grant review will be completed, and funds disbursed.”
The following are excerpts from the OMB memo:

The order “to freeze trillions of dollars in federal grants and loans prompted confusion across state capitols and local government offices on Tuesday, leaving them at a loss on how to even calculate its impact,” The New York Times reported, appearing to sum up the reaction in Sarasota County. The afternoon of Jan. 28, a federal judge in the District of Columbia blocked the order “just as it was to go into effect,” The Times added.
Judge Loren AliKhan “said she would issue a more permanent decision on Feb. 3,” The Times noted.
Then, on Jan. 29, the White House rescinded the freeze of up to trillions of dollars in federal grants and loans, which had “sparked mass confusion across the country,” The Times wrote.
“The initial directive interrupted the Medicaid system that provides health care to millions of low-income Americans and sent schools, hospitals, nonprofits, research companies and law enforcement agencies scrambling to understand if they had lost their financial support from the federal government, The Timesadded in its Jan. 29 update.
During the regular County Commission on Jan. 28, Steve Hyatt, manager of the Program Management Division within the county’s Office of Financial Management, and County Administrator Jonathan Lewis noted the concerns raised by the Jan. 27 OMB memo.
“Staff are still looking into this,” Hyatt told the board members. “We’re not sure of its impacts. “More information to follow …”
Regardless of what transpired, he said, staff already had planned a more in-depth presentation about the new funding during the regular commission meeting on Feb. 11.
A new set of rules for the latest funding

Earlier during his Jan. 28 remarks to the board, Hyatt explained that the county would have to handle the new HUD grant under a different set of rules than those for the grant it received in 2023 to respond to unmet needs resulting from the impacts of Hurricane Ian in September 2022.
For example, he said, HUD calls for a “more aggressive roll-out” of the county’s Action Plan for use of the new funds, which the commissioners will have to approve. Instead of the six months allowed for the submittal of the plan to HUD for the first grant, Hyatt pointed out, the new Action Plan will have to be submitted to the federal government in 90 days. The official date of availability of the funds was Jan. 21, he said.
Yet, Hyatt further noted, while the goal should be to target 70% of the funding to initiatives that will help households with low- to moderate-income, the county will have more flexibility in meeting that target.
He then showed the board members a slide with staff’s next steps, with the anticipation that HUD will let county staff know in May or June whether the county’s Action Plan has been approved.

The new survey
The survey linked to the new grant will be offered through Feb. 15, the Jan. 27 county news release said. It may be found online at ResilientSRQ.net/survey, the release noted. Paper copies are available at county libraries, the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Extension and Sustainability Sarasota office, and at several community centers and parks, the release said.
Additionally, paper copies and translatable surveys will be available upon request, the release pointed out.
Further, Community members are welcome to share their thoughts during one of the upcoming Resilient SRQ public meetings, the release pointed out:
- Feb. 5 —5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Frances T. Bourne Jacaranda Public Library, which is located at 4143 Woodmere Park Blvd. in Venice.
- Feb. 8 — 2 to 4 p.m. at the Fruitville Public Library, which stands at 100 Apex Road in Sarasota.
- Feb. 13 — 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Betty J. Johnson North Sarasota Public Library, located at 2801 Newtown Blvd. in Sarasota.
- Feb. 15 — 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. at the Gulf Gate Public Library, which stands at 7112 Curtiss Ave. in Sarasota.
The responses to the survey and during public meetings, “combined with federal, state and local data,” will enable staff to “develop an action plan to address unmet needs in housing, infrastructure restoration, economic revitalization and disaster mitigation,” the release about the survey explained.
To learn more or to be notified about program updates, events and information, visit ResilientSRQ.net, call 941-861-5309 or email ResilientSRQ@scgov.net.