Sarasota County Area Transit (SCAT) has lost
a competent manager.
"I like her," Thomas said. "She was reason-
able, and she knew what she doing. I am sad."
Carter was hired in August 2012 by previ-
ous County Administrator Randall Reid. She
replaced Anthony Beckford, who resigned
after a negative evaluation and the discovery
that about half the buses in the fleet carried
expired fire extinguishers. With a wide range
of management experience in both the private
and public sectors, including a stint as Collier
County's public transit manager, Carter was
seen at the time as the optimal choice to
replace Beckford.
Although SCAT has dealt with some hurdles
during her tenure — ranging from commis-
sioners' complaints about the high costs of
bus shelters to a report earlier this month
showing the system's total operating expenses
were higher than those of 11 comparable sys-
tems in the Southeast — SCAT was seen by
some as getting back on track.
On July 15, before the board members were
notified of Carter's firing, Commission Vice
Chairwoman Christine Robinson told the
News Leader, "There have been significant
improvements" since Carter took over as
manager of SCAT. The switch to accepting
payments by debit and credit cards "is another
one of those," Robinson said. (See the related
article in this issue.)
During her most recent evaluation in
November 2013, Carter received above-aver-
age marks. The evaluation noted a number of
achievements and did not indicate significant
areas of concern.
However, in his comments, Assistant County
Administrator Mark Cunningham wrote,
(From left) Rob Lewis joins County Administrator Tom Harmer and Acting Assistant Administrator
Steve Botelho during a May workshop with the County Commission. Lewis was named Interim
Sarasota County Area Transit director this week. Photo by Norman Schimmel
DOWNLOAD THE PDF
Read Glama Carter's last performance review.
Sarasota News Leader July 18, 2014 Page 11
