Manatee County’s Emergency Management chief resigns

Don Hermey has resigned as Manatee County’s Emergency Management chief.

“He resigned for personal reasons,” county spokesman Nick Azzara said Thursday afternoon.

Hermey, who was hired March 20, 2006, resigned Tuesday. His annual salary was $74,422.40 as of June 30.

Emergency Management Officer Sherilyn Burris has been named the acting division chief, according to an email from Bob Smith, the county’s public safety director, sent to Manatee County Administrator Ed Hunzeker on Wednesday morning.

“With the resignation of Don Hermey, I have asked Emergency Management Officer Sherilyn Burris to serve as acting division chief while we recruit and hire a permanent chief,” Smith said in the email.

Burris has been with the county for two and a half years, previously working for the Florida Division of Emergency Management and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

As a federal contractor with HHS, Burris “served as incident commander for Hurricane Ike, the earthquake in Haiti and the H1N1 influenza outbreak.”

Burris also worked on damage assessments following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and has also been deployed to response and recovery efforts for hurricanes Dennis, Katrina and Wilma, according to the email.

“Sherilyn is a valuable member of our team and brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the team of dedicated, hardworking professionals who are our EM Division staff,” Smith said. “I am confident she will successfully guide our EM Division as acting chief.”

This story was originally published September 29, 2016 at 4:00 PM with the headline "Manatee County’s Emergency Management chief resigns."