New district engineer surveys the Ranch

LAKEWOOD RANCH — Just a few weeks into his new job, Rey Malave feels comfortable.

Sure, he’s taking over engineering-related duties from Stantec’s Mike Kennedy, who handled those same responsibilities for Lakewood Ranch community development districts for more than a decade, but Malave is confident he’ll be settled in within a few months.

With more than 34 years’ experience in civil engineering, Malave has watched community development districts evolve as a popular way to finance development, and his role as a CDD developer has evolved with them.

“I like the fact that we resolve things that aren’t major for government, city or county, but are important for the people who live there,” Malave said. “It intrigued me. That kind of became my calling card, to a degree.”

Now, Malave is bringing his expertise to Lakewood Ranch as the new district engineer for CDDs 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6. As the districts’ engineer of record, he will perform tasks such as evaluating erosion along lake banks, lobbying for the county to repair roadways and other tasks.

“We have to take care of what’s in the ground — streets, ponds,” Malave said. “We know how to paint a house or a building, but sometimes you need to do the same kind of maintenance on streets and pipes. Working together keeps our community the way we like it.”

A senior associate at Dewberry|Boyer-Singleton, Malave has been driving Lakewood Ranch’s roads, visiting with staff and looking for opportunities to improve quality of life.

“We’ve already got a list of things we want to do for some of the districts,” Malave said. “We’re ready to start going forward with those issues and helping resolve those. Each (district) has its unique issues and directions (board members) are trying to achieve.”

Malave said his role in Lakewood Ranch expands Dewberry’s presence to the Southwest Florida market. Although the company is based in Orlando, it has always envisioned expanding. It was looking for an office in the Sarasota area because it is performing work from Tampa to Fort Myers.

And, as Malave adjusts to being in Lakewood Ranch a few days a week, the drive to and from Orlando gets shorter and shorter — or at least it feels that way.

He already spends a large portion of his time in the car; he manages the DeLand office and also serves CDDs in Lake Wales, Satellite Beach, Sumter County and Ocala.

Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].

RESUME: Rey Malave
Senior Associate at Dewberry|Bowyer-Singleton

Education: Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from the University of Puerto Rico; Master of Business Administration from DeVry University, Keller Graduate School of Management

Expertise: Stormwater management systems, water treatment and wastewater treatment facilities, effluent disposal systems and sanitary sewage collection systems

Relevant experience: Past roles include principal-in-charge for the 680-acre Country Greens Community Development District, in Sorrento, and district engineer for the 752-acre Cascades CDD in Groveland.

PAYMENT FOR SERVICE
Rey Malave’s rate is $205 per hour.

For the remainder of the fiscal year, CDDs 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6, in total, have budgeted $36,750 for district engineering services.

FUN FACTS
Work/life balance: When Rey Malave isn’t working, he loves to volunteer with youth mentoring through the Diocese of Orlando.

Travel bug: Malave and his wife, Emmabel enjoy traveling internationally, particularly to Guatemala and Mexico

Family: Malave and Emmabel, have two sons, Rey Jr., 33, and Luis, 28.

Drum roll, please: He also plays percussion in his son’s Latin Christian band, “Huellas,” translated from Spanish to “Footprints.” The band played a show in November 2013 in front of 20,000 people.