When City of St. Cloud Manager Bill Sturgeon announced that he would be retiring in September, two solid moves came alongside the decision, the announcement that David Tomek, former Osceola County Community Development Director, would assume the position of assistant city manager, and the appointing of Deputy City Veronica Miller by city council to the position of interim City Manager. Tomek has more than 38 years of public service, having served in Fort Myers, Maitland, St. Charles, MO. He most recently served as the Community Development Administrator for Osceola County, where he oversaw the Planning and Design, Code Enforcement and Zoning, Development Review, Building, Parks and Public Lands, and Sports Facility and Events divisions.
Miller, who has more than 20 years of experience in municipal government, nearly all of it with the City of St. Cloud, brings a familiar and dependable face to the transition.
While at the city, Miller has progressively grown her education and skills while serving the citizens of the city. After working as a Planning Tech for both the city of Oviedo and the city of Kissimmee, she came to work as a Planner for St. Cloud in 2003, just as the city was on the cusp of a growth surge that would make St. Cloud one of the fastest-growing communities in the nation.
In St. Cloud, she rose through the ranks, assuming leadership roles in numerous departments, before being named Deputy City Manager in 2017. The first Hispanic female to serve as Deputy City Manager, Veronica serves as Chief of Staff for the City, and directly oversees several departments. Her institutional knowledge, coupled with her community relationships and innate ability to seek solutions, have fueled her success in the role, and have helped the city thrive despite the challenges brought by growth, a pandemic and operational challenges.
A Central Florida native, Veronica holds a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies from Rollins College, with a concentration in Government and Policy. She is a Certified Public Manager, a Florida Redevelopment Association – Redevelopment Administrator (FRA-RA), and a qualified member of the American Institute of Certified Planners. Effective September 2022, she will be an ICMA Credentialed Manager.
Her community involvement includes the Main Street Economic Restructuring Committee, the St. Cloud Chamber of Commerce Economic Development Committee, Trustee on the City of St. Cloud General Employees’ Pension Board, Osceola County Director for the Orlando Metro Section Executive Committee of the Florida Chapter of the American Planning Association, and the Osceola Horticultural & Natural Resources Extension Advisory Committee. She currently serves on the Osceola County on Aging Board of Directors as the Secretary of the Osceola Council on Aging Senior Housing Management Board of Directors.
So, where does the city go from here? That’s certainly something being talked about inside and outside of St. Cloud’s city hall, but as they work through that very important decision, the city is left in very capable hands, steeped in leadership experience, and a strong understanding of the complex times St. Cloud is, and will be experiencing.
