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Venice honors 35-year public works veteran Kevin Barrett and names Matt Tomer 2025 employee of the year
Summary
The City of Venice recognized Kevin Barrett for 35 years of service and named Division Chief Matthew Tomer its 2025 employee of the year, highlighting roles in stormwater infrastructure and the $25 million Fire Station 52 project.
The City of Venice on Feb. 10 presented two staff recognitions, honoring Kevin Barrett for 35 years of municipal service and naming Division Chief Matthew (Matt) Tomer the city's 2025 employee of the year.
Kevin Barrett, now a stormwater engineering technician, was praised by city leaders for a career that began in 1991 in public works and included time as a volunteer firefighter in Nokomis and long service on the team that responds during hurricanes. A colleague told the council Barrett "inspected public and private projects and kept citizens safe," and that he helped save the city significant costs by performing work in-house on the conversion of the old police station into a new public works facility.
Matthew Tomer, a 19-year veteran of the Venice Fire Department and currently a division chief, received the staff-driven employee award. City managers described the honor as selected by a committee of past recipients and lauded Tomer's leadership on the Fire Station 52 capital project, a roughly $25 million build. "He approached this challenge in the perfect way," one presenter said, noting Tomer's team-building and calm incident response during hurricanes.
Both recognitions were ceremonial; no council action was required. The mayor and city manager encouraged colleagues and the public to acknowledge long service and the peer-selection process behind the employee award.
