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Tag: Public Works Director

Cosby retires as Bradenton Beach police chief 

Written by Leslie Lake on . Posted in Bradenton Beach, Community News.

 BRADENTON BEACH – John Cosby’s last day as Bradenton Beach police chief was Sept. 30.

Cosby became the police chief in 2021. After more than 38 years, he’s left the police department, but he remains a city employee. He now serves exclusively as the city’s public works director. Cosby had served as police chief and public works director since longtime Public Works Director Tom Woodard vacated the position in May 2024. 

Cosby was also in charge of the code enforcement department that’s now supervised by recently hired Building Official Ben Carr. 

Cosby will remain the city’s emergency operations management director. He’ll also serve as FEMA coordinator and lead the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency.

Cosby joined the police department on Jan. 11, 1988. He was promoted to corporal in 1991, sergeant in 1993 and lieutenant in 1999.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

While reflecting on his accomplishments, Cosby said his role as the city’s emergency manager stands out.

“I think the emergency management program as a whole is probably the most important thing, which is not totally law enforcement related,” he said.

At the 40th annual Governor’s Hurricane Conference in West Palm Beach on May 14, Cosby received the Chad Reed First Responder Award for his leadership of the city’s response to the 2024 hurricanes. The award is presented to an individual or organization serving as a first responder that made an outstanding contribution in the field of hurricane emergency response in the state of Florida.

Cosby coordinated the city’s recovery efforts with the state that included a visit by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Department of Transportation.

POLICE DEPARTMENT PRIORITIES

Within the police department, he said his priorities upon taking over as chief were retirement, training and equipment.

“Training was basically nonexistent,” he said.

Retirement benefits for employees were another of Cosby’s priorities. Because of his efforts, the department now has a defined benefit plan through the Florida League of Cities, and Cosby said he pushed to extend it to civilian employees as well.

He also required upgraded patrol cars and added new Toughbook laptops. The department also bought service weapons for its officers.

“Up until that point we carried our own guns, which is a huge liability,” Cosby said.

The department’s general orders, its written policies, had not been updated since 1992. Cosby said a hurricane interrupted the rewrite.

“We actually just finished the general orders two weeks ago,” he said. “So Chief Diaz will sign off on those and that’s what will be issued to the troops.”

ADVICE FOR SUCCESSOR

Lenard Diaz, a former department lieutenant, became police chief effective Oct. 1.

Cosby said his main advice to Diaz was to talk with his family about how the job will impact their lives.

“The biggest thing I told him was make sure you have a real talk with your family because this job now is your family,” Cosby said. “As a department you always feel that way but now it’s you and sometimes things are going to have to be put aside. In the position everybody else is in they look up, in the position as chief you can only look around because it’s just you.”

Cosby said Diaz is well prepared.

“He’s worked closely with me, as well as the entire staff in moving the police department forward, so he’s been involved all along,” he said. “So, there’s nothing hidden except for the amount of work it is when you’re sitting in that chair.” SUCCESSION PLAN

Cosby said no additional promotions within the department are planned when Diaz becomes chief.

Instead, Chuck Sloan, a former Bradenton Beach officer who attended law school and now works for the FBI, is expected to join the department as lieutenant after he retires from the FBI in October 2027. If all goes as planned, Sloan will move into the chief’s position when Diaz retires in a couple of years, Cosby said.

“You have a retired special agent in the FBI, and he is a Florida board-certified attorney, so for the city to get somebody with those types of credentials is pretty impressive,” Cosby said.

NEW ROLE

Cosby had served as both police chief and public works director for more than two years while also overseeing code enforcement. Asked what he will miss about being chief, he pointed to the trust he built.

“I’m just happy that I was able to gain the respect of the commission, the citizens, the business owners and the staff over the years, that’s the biggest,” he said. “When you say something, you don’t have to prove it, they take your word for it and that’s nice.”

As public works director, Cosby supervises five full-time employees and is responsible for public works, stormwater, the Bradenton Beach pier, facilities maintenance and maintaining lease guidelines for Anna Maria Oyster Bar.

“It’s a big change,” he said.

His new work hours are 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., and he said the change is already noticeable.

“I’m already sleeping better,” Cosby said. 

Related coverage: Bradenton Beach has a new police chief 

Cosby transitioning from police chief to public works director

Written by Leslie Lake on . Posted in Bradenton Beach, Community News.

BRADENTON BEACH – Police Chief John Cosby will step down from his role with the Bradenton Beach Police Department later this year and serve as the city’s full-time director of public works.

That transition was announced by Mayor John Chappie and approved by the city commission on May 21.

“The chief and I have been talking about his transition from the police department to full-time public works director after 38 years with the Bradenton Beach Police Department,” Chappie said. “The chief has been acting as public works director for approximately two years and doing an amazing job and getting things done.” 

Cosby has served as public works director since longtime director Tom Woodard vacated the position in May 2024.

“Chief Cosby wants to transition to public works. It would begin at the beginning of the fiscal year 2026-27,” Chappie said.

The city’s new fiscal year begins on Oct. 1.

“We have really never had a proactive public works director and the chief is proactive on everything. He does his homework. We know what we’re getting with Chief Cosby and his 38 years of institutional knowledge. I think it would be a win-win to keep the chief around,” Chappie said. “I’m not trying to criticize anybody in the past, but we never had anybody who really understands and studies and researches and knows all the contract people you really need to know. If he doesn’t know something, he will find out.” 

Chappie suggested a $122,000 salary for Cosby to serve as the full-time public works director. 

Commissioner Scott Bear said, “To have 38 years of experience walk out the door would be a loss to the city. So, if that’s what he wants, I support that. We’re getting the best out of this whole situation, because we get to retain a lot of knowledge and continue with the services we have. I support it completely.” 

Commissioner Ralph Cole supports Cosby’s transition to full-time public works director. Commissioner Debbie Scaccianoce also spoke in support of the proposed transition.

“I think the loss of the institutional knowledge alone would be devastating,” she said. “We have to consider that Chief Cosby is going to continue his role in emergency operations. If he takes on the CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency), those are added duties that I think would warrant some financial incentive added on to the public works salary.”

Cosby also serves as the city’s emergency operations manager. For his leadership during and after the 2024 hurricanes, he received the Chad Reed First Responder Award during the Governor’s Hurricane Conference on May 14. 

Chappie said Cosby will continue to serve as police chief until a new chief is hired. 

“We can start advertising for a new chief in early August and then approve the new chief in September, to begin work at the beginning of fiscal year 2026-27, possibly a little sooner,” Chappie said. 

Cosby said Lt. Lenard Diaz is not interested in taking over as the police chief.

“I’ve spoken with Lt. Diaz, who is the only one who would be close to being qualified,” Cosby told the commission. “He indicated at this point he’s not interested. But August is a few months away, maybe he’ll change his mind.” 

Scaccianoce said Cosby would also be available to support the new police chief.

The commission unanimously approved a motion to approve Cosby’s transition to full-time public works director with a first-year salary of $122,000.

Public works director leaving Holmes Beach

Public works director leaving Holmes Beach

Written by Joe Hendricks on . Posted in Community News, Holmes Beach.

HOLMES BEACH – Public Works Director and City Engineer Sage Kamiya tendered his resignation and will soon serve as the city engineer for the city of Sarasota.

After serving as Holmes Beach’s public works director, city engineer and traffic engineer for slightly more than four years, Thursday, Oct. 9 will be Kamiya’s last day with the city.

Mayor Judy Titsworth said Senior Project Manager Anthony Benitez will serve as the interim public works directors and the permanent position will be advertised. Tray Thorpe will continue serving as the maintenance supervisor.

After making Titsworth aware of the anticipated offer from the city of Sarasota, Kamiya sent Titsworth his resignation letter on Sept. 24.

“It is with heavy heart that I’m tendering my resignation with a little over two-week notice. I have received an offer which is a great next step opportunity for me, both professionally and for my family. I sincerely appreciate that you’ve entrusted me with the leadership of our great public works team. I’m proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish during my time here,” his letter said in part.

When contacted by phone on Oct. 2, Kamiya was asked if anyone with the city encouraged him to leave.

“No, it was on my own volition. It’s a conversation I’d been having with the city of Sarasota for over a year. I told them ‘no’ a couple times previously and it got to the point where I decided to take it,” he said.

“In some ways, it’s a lateral move, but in other ways it’s an advancement because I’ll be able to work on some bigger projects. As an engineer, it’ll be good for me professionally to do some things that are larger and have a bigger scope. The largest project I worked on in Holmes Beach was the City Center project, which was about $3 million. One of the projects I’m going to be involved with in Sarasota is over $45 million. As an engineer, you like bigger and more complicated challenges, so that’s exciting and interesting to me,” he said.

“I’ll miss my team. We have a really good public works department and there are some great people there. We’re taking care of yesterday, fighting today’s fires and preparing for tomorrow – and things weren’t quite that way when I inherited the department. I’ll miss Mayor Judy and the community. She has been super supportive and she provided the resources we needed to get the job done; and the community has been welcoming.”

Mayor’s comments

“Sage will be missed. He was a tremendous asset to our city and he was able to shape the public works department into something I am most proud of,” Titsworth said.

“He and I were able to shape a tremendous public works department that went after and received a lot of grant money. He was awesome to work with. He allows me to sleep better at night. The commissioners absolutely love him.

“Sage has a great opportunity with the city of Sarasota with room for advancement. I can match his pay. It wasn’t about the pay, but I can never give him that advancement he’d get with Sarasota,” Titsworth said. “I told him I was proud of him and I can understand why he’d want to take it.”

When asked if Kamiya was forced out or encouraged to leave Holmes Beach, Titsworth said, “No. Neither.”

Looking ahead, Titsworth said, “We’ve got a lot of projects and a lot of things going on right now. We’ll lose Sage’s knowledge but Anthony and Tray will step up. We’ve used RESPEC as our stormwater consultants and they’ve got a good handle on our stormwater projects. Hopefully, the citizens won’t feel Sage’s departure too much.”