IN THE PUBLIC EYE: Bob Bartolotta

Age: 63

Home: Bird Key, Sarasota

Previous municipal experience: Town manager, Jupiter, 2000-2004
Assistant city manager, Savannah, Ga., 1989-2000
City manager, Dover, Del., 1982-1989
Assistant city manager, Ames, Iowa, 1977-1982
Assistant director, International City Management Association, 1973-1977

Education: Bachelors degree in political science, California State University, Fullerton
Masters degree in Public Administration, University of Southern California
Graduate program for local government senior executives, Harvard University

Bio: The city of Sarasota gave city manager Bob Bartolotta a shot at rebooting his more than 30-year-old municipal government career in June 2007.

Bartolotta hasn’t slowed down since.

The longtime municipal government employee traveled from Savannah, Ga. to Sarasota in May 2007, hoping for a chance to get back into municipal government as the city manager of Sarasota.

The former town manager of Jupiter resigned his position in 2004 to care for his terminally ill wife and worked in Savannah on the tax assessors’ board. A year after his wife died, he was ready to get back into the game and saw the city manager opening in Sarasota as the perfect opportunity.

Four years later, Bartolotta has remarried and is busier than ever as the city manager, taking over the management of a city when budget cuts and employee layoffs became necessary almost from the minute he walked into City Hall.

Bartolotta’s day typically begins before dawn.

After a five-minute drive from his Bird Key home to City Hall, he settles down at his desk between 7 a.m. and 7:30 a.m., where he begins to listen to his phone messages and scan, read and answer scores of e-mails.

There’s not much he hasn’t done since taking the position, including negotiating baseball deals, working on a downtown parking garage, listening to input on parking meters, trying to make up millions in lost tax revenue and more. Most days require Bartolotta to work through lunch.

Most recently, he has begun instituting monthly office hours for anyone who has an issue with city government.

The average day ends at 6 p.m. or later.

The demands for his time have taken away from Bartolotta’s other interests — travel and reading.

Since coming to Sarasota, the city manager has not taken a long trip. He’s been all around the world, but says Hong Kong is his favorite destination.

He used to read a book a week, but these days by the time he gets home, he’s too exhausted to read and has just enough energy to set the alarm again for 5:15 a.m.