Sarasota selects next city manager

Seventeen months after the retirement of Marlon Brown, Sarasota has a new city manager.

Following a brief discussion on Friday, the Sarasota City Commission unanimously selected Karie Friling as the city's next top executive. The executive director of the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, Illinois since 2021, she will be the first female city manager in the city's history.

Previously, Friling was village manager of the Village of Homer Glen, Illinois, from 2019 to 2021, and assistant village manager and development services director from 2006-2019,

Photo by Andrew Warfield

Of their preferred finalists, commissioners said Friling was the common thread among them all and characterized her as the best prepared and most knowledgeable about the city during the two-day interview and public engagement process held Feb. 23-24. 

After each commissioner voiced their thoughts about their top two or three candidates, Vice Mayor Kathy Kelley Ohlrich made the motion to hire Friling, which was quickly seconded by Commissioner Liz Alpert.

“She actually did her homework before she came, and then it was just her attitude, her answers to the questions,” Ohlrich said of Friling. “She was open. She was approachable.”

Alpert echoed Ohlrich’s sentiments in her comments prior to the nomination.

“It’s been an interesting week,” Alpert said. “I actually started out with one person who I thought I didn't like, who came in and just absolutely blew me away. I have two top picks, but the edge for me goes to Karie Friling.”

The decision marks the end of a lengthy process that involved two executive search firms. The second — Sumter Local Government Consulting — was hired in September 2025 with an ambitious schedule to help the commission conclude its protracted city manager search by this spring. That deadline was augmented by Interim City Manager Dave Bullock when he announced in January he would resume his retirement on March 6.

City Attorney Joe Polzak was directed to begin employment contract negotiations with Friling immediately. With a start date uncertain, though, the commission unanimously approved naming Governmental Relations Manager Jennifer Jorgensen as the city’s third interim city manager to fill the role prior to Friling’s arrival.