Eight candidates to be interviewed for PSC post

BY THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

A state panel plans to interview eight candidates next month for a spot on the Florida Public Service Commission. A nominating council Thursday selected the eight from a list of 11 applicants to replace longtime utility regulator Lisa Edgar, who will leave the Public Service Commission at the end of the year. Sen. Garrett Richter, a Naples Republican who is chairman of the nominating council, said the interviews will be held Aug. 17 in Orlando. Ultimately, the council will forward three names to Gov. Rick Scott, who will appoint Edgar's successor. The eight selected for interviews are Jeffrey Bragg, a former director of a federal terrorism risk insurance program who also was a candidate this year for state insurance commissioner; Thomas P. Brantley, an engineer who has been the longtime director of facilities management and construction for Leon County; Todd Chase, a Gainesville city commissioner; John. R. Coleman, a New Port Richey resident who is a retired New York State Department of Public Service supervisor; Jeffrey S. Foster, a project manager for the city of Jacksonville's Department of Public Works; Stuart W. Pollins, a deputy policy coordinator in the governor's Office of Policy and Budget; Donald J. Polmann, an engineer who worked in the past at Tampa Bay Water and was a finalist for a spot on the Public Service Commission in 2013; and Cynthia J. Wilson Orndoff, a professor of construction at Florida SouthWestern State College and a faculty member at Everglades University in Sarasota.