Commission Directory

Thursday, September 09, 2010

The Sunrise City Commission is comprised of:

Mayor Roger B. Wishner
Deputy Mayor Donald K. Rosen
Assistant Deputy Mayor Sheila D. Alu
Commissioner Joseph A. Scuotto
Commissioner Lawrence A. Sofield

Mayor Roger B. Wishner

Area of special interest: Economic Development
Liaison to: State of Florida
E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Mayor Wishner was elected to the City Commission in March 2007 and appointed Mayor in January 2009. He previously served as a Sunrise Commissioner from 1987 to 1999 and was selected Deputy Mayor in 1991, and Assistant Deputy Mayor in 1990 and 1995. He was also elected to the Florida House of Representatives, where he served residents as a State Representative from 2000 to 2004.

Mayor Wishner earned an Associate of Arts Degree from Miami-Dade Community College and is currently the president of a medical waste management company. He and his wife Ethel have two sons.

Deputy Mayor Donald K. Rosen

Area of special interest: Police
Liaison to: Federal Government
E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Donald Rosen became a Sunrise resident in 1985. He was elected to the City Commission in 2001 and won a third term in 2009. He is currently serving his first term as Deputy Mayor, and has been selected Assistant Deputy Mayor three times. He has served on a number of committees for the Broward League of Cities and currently serves on the Municipal Service Delivery Council and the International Affairs Committee of the Florida League of Cities (FLC). Deputy Mayor Rosen was recently re-appointed to the FLC's Federal Action Strike Team, and has served as the FLC representative to the State of Florida's Hazardous Mitigation Response Advisory Team. He also serves on the National League of Cities' Finance, Administration & Intergovernmental Relations Committee (FAIR), the International Council, the Council on Democratic Governance, and the Public Safety Committee. Deputy Mayor Rosen was recently selected for and appointed to the South Florida Water Management District Water Task Force, whose goal is to create an environment to conserve water, as well as reduce the cost to the communities that are being served in South Florida.

Deputy Mayor Rosen is in the safety-consulting field. He has been married to his wife, Evelyne, for 30 years and they have two children - Samantha and Stephen.

Assistant Deputy Mayor Sheila D. Alu

Area of special interest: Land Development
Liaison to: Broward County
E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Sheila Alu was elected to the City Commission in 2001, and re-elected in 2003 without opposition. She is currently serving her third term as Assistant Deputy Mayor, and was previously selected as the City's Deputy Mayor. A Sunrise resident since 1992, Assistant Deputy Mayor Alu has volunteered in support of several local nonprofit child welfare organizations. She has served on the Broward League of Cities' Education Committee; the Florida League of Cities' Criminal Justice, Ethics and Personnel Committee; and the National League of Cities' Human Development Policy Committee.

Assistant Deputy Mayor Alu graduated from Nova Southeastern University (NSU) and NSU's Shepard Broad Law Center. She is currently an Assistant State Attorney with the Broward County State Attorney's Office for the 17th Judicial Circuit.

Assistant Deputy Mayor Alu has a daughter, Christina.

Commissioner Joseph A. Scuotto

Area of special interest: Leisure Services
Liaison to: School Board of Broward County
E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Joseph Scuotto - a 26-year resident of Sunrise - has served as a City Commissioner since 1997, and was most recently re-elected in 2009. He was named Deputy Mayor in 1999, 2001, 2004, 2005 and 2009, and has served three terms as Assistant Deputy Mayor. He participates in the Broward County School Board's Partners in Education program and has sponsored numerous civic organizations and charities. He is the president of the Sunrise Italian-American Civic Association, and is on the board of the Sunrise Chamber of Commerce. Commissioner Scuotto serves on the National League of Cities' Community and Economic Development Steering Committee, and is a member of the Florida League of Cities' Environmental Quality Committee. He is also on the board of the South Florida Regional Planning Council, and serves on the Resource and Recovery Board.

Commissioner Scuotto is the president of Scuotto's Coney Island Treats, Inc., president of Bayshore Club Properties, Inc., and is a project manager for Superior One Contracting, Inc.

Commissioner Lawrence A. Sofield

Area of special interest: Fire-Rescue
Liaison to: North Broward Hospital District
E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Lawrence "Larry" Sofield was appointed to the City Commission on February 17, 2009. Since becoming a Sunrise resident in 1992, he has been an active and involved member of the community.

As the founder and past president of the East Sunrise Residents Association, Commissioner Sofield has worked to boost safety and expand recreation opportunities in his neighborhood. In 2008, in an effort to further increase civic involvement, he founded the Central Sunrise Residents Association.

Commissioner Sofield is an advocate for quality education. He currently serves on the Village Elementary School Advisory Council, and is a past member of the Broward County School Board's Diversity Committee. He is also a past member of the Sunrise Leisure Services Advisory Board, and has been a volunteer coach in the City's t-ball and youth basketball leagues since 2003.

Commissioner Sofield is the president and founder of RealPost, Inc. - a successful Sunrise-based business. He is married to Katherine, and they have four children and four grandchildren.