Candidate Profile: Manatee County Commission: District 6: Sundae Knight

Candidate: Sundae Knight

Party Affiliation: Democrat

Age: 39

Occupation: Sundae started her career in the constructing industry as a journeyman carpenter. She was most interested in engineering and started taking classes toward her goal in 1994 while working as an engineer’s assistant in the Air Force.

Her current job is contracted to MacDill AFB as the base energy manager.

Annual income: Declined to comment

Biography: Her family’s motto is to "Protect and Serve"!  She is a  third generation armed forces veteran. Her mother retired after 20 years. Her grandfather was Army Air Corps in World War II. She also has many uncles and cousins in all branches of the armed services.

Growing up, Sundae never lived in the same spot for more than three or four years and attended fifteen different schools.  

“The place that always seemed like home was Florida, which happened to be the place I’ve lived the longest.”

She followed in the family’s footsteps and enlisted in millitary. After serving her country, Knight earned her GI bill and got out with an honorable discharge.

She finished her engineering degree at UCF. After graduation, she started as a plans reviewer for Land Development Service, then Traffic Operations and worked her way through Sarasota County’s Professional Engineering Development Program.

Education:  She attended the University of Central Florida in 2004 for Civil Engineering. She went to Community College in the Air Force in 2001, where she achieved her Associate of Arts degree in Construction Management. At Berufbildendeschule Bitburg in 1993, she got a Journeyman's Degree in Carpentry.

Experience: “Attracting outsiders has always been our primary economic engine, and our engine is sputtering. Population growth is at a 30-year low. School enrollment is declining. Retirees are drifting to the Southwest and the Carolinas, while would-be Floridians who bought preconstruction condos in more optimistic times are scrambling — and often suing — to break contracts,” she said.

Sundae sees the multitudes of problems facing the county and believes that the answers lie in embracing environmental options to protect resources and bring in jobs. She does not support offshore drilling. She wants to see the county adopt things like green roofs, use reclaimed water for irrigation, and utilize grey water in toilets. She has a plan for the next five years and feels that Manatee County can do a better job of allowing for the use of modern engineering designs in new and renovated buildings. As a commissioner, she would support staff by encouraging and approving changes to the land development regulations and building codes to allow for these alternative designs.

“Local governments are utterly dependent on construction for tax revenues, so they're slashing school and public-transportation budgets that were already among the nation's stingiest. We're facing our worst real estate meltdown since the Depression. We've got a water crisis, insurance crisis, environmental crisis and budget crisis to go with our housing crisis,” she said.

Sundae has endorsed voting yes for Amendment 4.

“It may not be the most perfect tool for enacting the needed change, but it puts the power back with the voters. As a voter, I really like that idea,” she said.

Community Involvement:  Sundae was a member of the Professional Associations and Honor Societies, Sarasota-Manatee Young Democrats, Manatee Young Professionals, Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Society of Civil Engineering, Association of Energy Engineers, Institute of Transportation Engineers, Toastmasters International, Associated Builders and Contractors, Tau Beta Pi, Society of Automotive Engineers, Air Force Sergeants Association, Golden Key National Honor Society, Esprit de Corps and Phi Theta Kappa.

Sundae has received numerous honors while in the Air Force and from other various organizations.

Monetary Contributions:  Sundae has been endorsed by the West Central Florida Federation of Labor, the International Union of Operating Engineers and the Sierra Club.

Her contributions and expenditures are available here. .