Vacant County Commission District 3 seat has been filled

Neil Rainford has been appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to fill the Sarasota County Commission seat that became vacant after Nancy Detert died. The District 3 seat covers Venice and parts of Nokomis and North Port.

Rainford, 36, is a senior executive with Sarasota-based Mullet's Aluminum Products Inc. He moved to the Sarasota area shortly after graduating from Florida State University in 2009 with a bachelor’s of science degree with an emphasis on urban and regional planning.

Rainford is scheduled to take the oath of office just prior to the Tuesday, June 13 County Commission meeting at the Robert L. Anderson Administration Center, 4000 S. Tamiami Trail in Venice. He will then join commissioners for the regularly scheduled commission meeting at 9 a.m.

“Assuming the seat of a legend like Nancy Detert won’t be easy, but I’m honored to be entrusted with this appointment to the Sarasota County Commission,” Rainford said in a news release. “We are consistently ranked as one of the top communities in the nation in which to live, so we are already doing a lot right.”

His priorities, he added, will be infrastructure, business climate and workforce housing.

Rainford is a current member of the Sarasota County Planning Commission and was an elected member of the county’s Charter Review Board. He has also been twice elected secretary of the Republican Executive Committee, and he formerly served on the Board of Trustees of Tabernacle Church.