Ben Quartermaine: Maintenance is key; county may prepare for bigger rain events.
By Ramon Lopez
Original Air Date: August 22, 2025
Host: Everybody is riled up about flooding. WSLR News reporter Ramon Lopez got Sarasota County’s new stormwater management czar in front of his microphone, and he asked Ben Quartermaine a few questions.
Ramon Lopez: Now firmly in hurricane season, Sarasotans hope there won’t be an encore of 2024’s triple threat.
With local homeowners expressing their frustration with the county’s response to the major flooding last year, the five Sarasota County commissioners created a new stormwater department, selecting Ben Quartermaine as its director.
The move separated Stormwater from Public Works headed by Spencer Anderson. This move, said Commissioner Tom Knight, aims to “start regaining some public trust in county stormwater management.”
With this in mind, Quartermaine said a major goal of his is to improve stormwater transparency. He says county residents shouldn’t be left in the dark.
Ben Quartermaine
Ben Quartermaine: We haven’t done a good job of making sure that the public knows what they’re doing, when they’re doing it and how they’re doing it. We want the public to understand the work that we’re doing.
RL: The need to keep taxpayers informed was among the topics addressed by Quartermaine in a short interview with WSLR News early this week. Another was maintenance of the county’s stormwater infrastructure.
BQ: The immediate goal is to ensure that our maintenance of our existing system and the efficiencies of our existing systems are working as well as possible. Maintenance currently is the priority. We’re always looking for capital improvements and ways to improve our system. We have identified some projects and some goals. But maintenance is certainly the key to ensuring that we’re prepared for this storm season.
RL: “Level of Service” refers to the current worst case scenario of 10 inches of rain in a 24-hour-period, far exceeded when Hurricane Debby hit the area. Quartermaine said that rain gauge may be changing.
BQ: Our level of service is based on that 10 inches in 24 hours currently. Whether or not we have to increase that level of service is something that we’re considering and the board has asked us to consider moving forward. We’ll work with the state and [unintelligible] primarily to ensure that we’re setting proper level of service goals.
RL: Dredging of hard-hit Phillippi Creek was not expected to begin until 2026 because of a permit problem. But Quartermaine said bids for the work are already being sought, as the permit could be issued sooner than originally anticipated.
The sandbar at the north fork of Phillippi Creek, flooded in the aftermath of Debby. Photo by Jim McWhorter via Sarasota News Leader
BQ: We had a pre-bid meeting last week to discuss the project with contractors, but our intent is to remove sediment in Philippi Creek to make that drainage more efficient, That sediment removal and that attention to sediment will be an improvement project but then, potentially, part of a maintenance program. I do know that we have already done some significant sediment removal within the creek with our own crews. We’re going to move forward with the permitting process and the contractual process to have additional sediment removed from the creek.
We have several phases of this project. Phase one will address the majority of the sediment that needs to be removed from the creek, but certainly maintenance in the future and establishing a level of service for maintenance of sediment is something that we’re going to present to the commission to consider. We’re going to recommend that sediment management be part of our utility moving forward.
RL: Steve Suau is a hydrologist and engineer who helped create the county’s stormwater utility in the late 1980s. At the request of the county, Suau conducted an independent analysis of Tropical Storm Debby’s impact.
Based on his detailed study, Steve Suau developed far-reaching draft recommendations to be presented to Sarasota County. They include: build more internal stormwater staff expertise, proactively protect significant floodplain areas, and update storm criteria in the face of climate change.
At issue was whether Suau would be brought in on a contractual basis to assist Quartermaine. The new stormwater czar said Suau is now on board. The two see eye-to eye on what needs to now happen.
BQ: Steve Suau has been involved in the stormwater utility for the past 25 years. He’s a mentor of mine. We work closely together. He’s already under contract. The first two tasks are an audit of the existing system and then a review and prioritization of tasks within the utility and then recommendations for the utility moving forward. I understand the recommendations and, to the extent, I agree with them.
RL: This is Ramon Lopez for WSLR News.
WSLR News aims to keep the local community informed with our 1/2 hour local news show, quarterly newspaper and social media feeds. The local news broadcast airs on Wednesdays and Fridays at 6pm.