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You might say Todd Kerkering spent his entire life preparing for his new job. He is the first-ever emergency manager for the City of Sarasota. He is a local, too, Class of '84 Sarasota High School graduate and a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps. His military specialty was in "force recon," being the first into a hot situation, be it a defended beach, a contested drop zone or a stealthy insert from under the sea. Force recon requires Marines to go in early, assess a situation and begin to organize the initial wave of the com- ing assault. Today he sits alone in a conference room half the size of a courtroom in one of the upper stories of the Sarasota Police Department building in downtown Sarasota, again ready to organize the ini- tial wave. Kerkering made the transition f r o m t h e S a r a s o t a County Emergency Management Office, where he served as Todd Kerkering is creating the new post of City of Sarasota emergency management chief after a career in the U.S. Marines and seven years in the Emergency Management Office of Sarasota County. Photo by Stan Zimmerman FIRST INTERVIEW WITH A NEW CHIEF TODD KERKERING IS THE FIRST EMERGENCY MANAGER FOR THE CITY OF SARASOTA For me, typically it's bringing together city departments. That's where I come in, to provide the training for all the individuals for the command system, teaching them the paperwork for the reimbursements. Todd Kerkering Emergency Management Chief City of Sarasota By Stan Zimmerman City Editor