Longboat Observer announces staff changes

Former Longboat Observer Managing Editor Kurt Schultheis is ready take on Town Hall — Lakewood Ranch Town Hall, that is.

Schultheis, who has covered the Longboat Key Town Hall beat for more than six of the past seven-and-a-half years, has been named managing editor of the East County Observer and will be based out of the company’s Lakewood Ranch office.

Former News Editor Robin Hartill is now managing editor of the Longboat Observer and will continue to work out of the Longboat Key office.

Caleb Motsinger, who joins the Observer staff from the Advantage News, in Alton, Ill., will take on the Town Hall beat as the new Longboat Observer staff writer.

Schultheis and Hartill both joined the Observer staff in 2006.

Schultheis served as the Longboat Observer’s city editor from 2007 to 2011, during which he covered all 25 Longboat Key Club hearings, the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort collapse and countless meetings. He became the Sarasota Observer’s city editor in 2011 but returned to the Longboat Observer in 2012 as managing editor.

“Longboat Key is the most unique place to cover news and meet interesting people with great stories,” Schultheis said.

Known for his ability to make sense of complex, ongoing issues (often on deadline), Schultheis said one of his favorite recent moments occurred after six years of watching the Longboat Key Town Commission wrestle with the cell tower issue when current commissioners declared on the record they didn’t want a tower.

“Former town attorney Dave Persson called it ‘a watershed moment for the town’ and I remember thinking it was cool to witness a longstanding issue for the town finally being resolved.”

Hartill spent a year reporting on Town Hall, during which she covered the resignation of longtime Town Manager Bruce St. Denis, a Key Club appeal, the reversal of key rulings that closed the Colony and new cell tower and Publix applications — all during her first six weeks on the beat.

“While I enjoy the challenges of covering Town Hall, my favorite stories are about the people (and occasionally the animals) of Longboat Key,” Hartill said.

In her new managing role, Hartill will continue to document the people and stories that make the Key unique.

Meanwhile, Motsinger is looking forward to learning more about the community.

“Longboat Key is a great place with a devoted community and a great newspaper, and I plan to keep it that way with consistent, factual coverage done in a fresh and enthusiastic way,” he said.