Commissioners lament top county officials' evaluation process

As the only two direct employees of the Sarasota County Commission, the evaluations and compensation discussions for County Administrator Jonathan Lewis and County Attorney Joshua Moye is a public process. 

It’s a report card-type ranking of the multiple facets of their roles and, until this year, some, but not all, commissioners in the past made those grades public.

This year, though, only freshman Commissioner Tom Knight included his evaluation in the public document, concluding all factors to result in a grade of “above average” for both Lewis and Moye.

Being his first time making those evaluations, Knight said at the Oct. 21 County Commission meeting he found the process to be awkward, uncomfortable and, in many respects, irrelevant to the core functions of the county administrator’s job.

Awkward and uncomfortable because of the public nature of a process that in the private sector, or any level below Lewis and Moye within county government, is held behind closed doors.

The current public process, Lewis told commissioners, has been employed by the county since around 2012. There is no set policy for the process within the county charter nor prescribed by the state. It's just how it's been done. 

“It just says in my contract, and I think in Mr. Moye’s contract, that the board will evaluate us,” Lewis said. “It doesn't say anything about having to be in a meeting like this. This is the first place I've worked where it's done specifically this way, but there are other places that do it this way as well.”

Among those places is the city of Sarasota.

Commissioner Teresa Mast was an employee of the county during the implementation of the current process. She described it as a time of significant leadership challenges. Things have changed since then, she said, and perhaps the evaluation process should as well.

“I would definitely support having the conversation,” she said, “and I didn't make mine public, because I honestly don't think it's the public's business.”

Chairman Joe Neunder disagreed.

“In a world where we are judged as commissioners by our performance by the voters, our employees should be also judged by the people in control of their day-to-day operations,” he said.

Changes in the evaluation process may be a topic of discussion for the board’s annual planning retreat later this year. Certainly, a subject will be how the county approaches the budgeting process. Commissioners will certainly broach the subject of the fiscal year 2026 budget process, the consensus among them that the budgeting needs to begin sooner, particularly with constitutional officers (medical examiner, clerk of court and others) and elected officers (sheriff, tax collector, elections supervisor, etc.) all with state-approved budgets.

Commissioners grew increasingly concerned through this year’s budget process that revenue growth will begin to wane as population and property tax values begin to level off, and some difficult decisions will be made for the next fiscal year.

Lewis and Moye reportedly told commissioners of their satisfaction with their current compensation packages and expect no increase.

Lewis has a fully loaded (insurance, benefits, pension contribution, etc.) package of $460,000 and Moye $422,000. Of those totals, Lewis earns $284,252 in salary and Moye $262,953.

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County commissioners, meanwhile, receive compensation based on a formula set by the state, the formula derived from the county’s population. For the new fiscal year, they will each earn $112,580, an increase $3,537 over the prior year. 

Knight posited both Lewis and Moye should each receive the same amount as token appreciation for a job well done. That suggestion came in the form of a motion by Ron Cutsinger, which was approved 4-1 with Joe Neunder opposed. That amount will be paid in a lump sume rather than rolled into their paychecks.

Neunder said given next year's anticipated belt tightening, the optics of a bump in pay, regardless of how slight in terms of percentage, are unfavorable.

“In my discussions with both of our employees, they were fine (with their compensation), so I will not be voting for an increase in any amount this year given that next year we have a lot to deal with in the budgeting process,” Neunder said. “These are very difficult conversations to have, especially dealing with people's salaries. I also have to take into consideration that the optics in the public, government is being scrutinized.”