Arleen Hunter to lead Bonita Springs as its city manager

In 2005, Arleen Hunter took a job as special events and park coordinator for Bonita Springs. Thirteen years later, she’s the first woman to take the helm as its city manager.

City Council selected her 7-0 without any drawn-out search process. Hunter had been in interim city manager since June.

“It was apparent for years (Arleen Hunter’s) dedication and abilities and her personality,” Mayor Peter Simmons said. “It became obvious very early on she was the right choice to take the role.”

Hunter now sits at the lead chair during city council meetings, answering councilor questions or jotting down notes. City councilors trust her with getting their tasks done — she attended a city council meeting on her twins’ fourth birthday.

Since moving in 2005, Bonita Springs has played a part in Hunter’s life outside of work. She met her soon-to-be husband Bobbie Hunter, a Lee County Sheriff’s deputy, at the city's 2008 Fourth of July celebration. The two were working and bumped into each other.

Three years later, Bobbie proposed on-stage during the same event.

“He tricked me,” Hunter said. 

Hunter had moved up through the Bonita Springs city ranks since taking the job as special events and park coordinator. Former City Manager Gary Price first hired her in 2005.

“I knew she had greater abilities, and she took on more and more responsibilities,” Price said. “She hit the ground running.”

Some of those abilities started during her time at Florida State University and the following job as a city planner in the town of Quincy, near Tallahassee, by 1998. Within 7 years, Hunter was director of the department.

Much of her family lived in Southwest Florida, and Hunter wanted to move closer to home. She was born and spent her early years in Long Island, New York. But Hunter would tell you she grew up in Sanibel, where she has memories from most of her childhood.

Hunter found an open position at the city of Bonita Springs close to home and took the job in 2005.

“My family is here, and being government light, I was still able to do planning things,” Hunter said. “We were doing a lot of stuff downtown.”

Hunter stayed in the special events position until 2012 when she became the director of development services, a job meant to help the local economy.

In 2015, former assistant city manager John Gucciardo announced his retirement, and that Hunter would step into his role. She spent a year shadowing Gucciardo before he left.

“It was kind of assistant-city-manager-in-waiting,” she said. “I was excited. One of the things I really enjoy is doing a lot of different things.”

Hunter then spent two years as assistant city manager under Carl Schwing, soaking up the ins and outs of running a city of more than 50,000 people and finding fun in the job she hopes to work at for many years to come.

“Everything has its own unique appeal,” Hunter said. “You can find something interesting in everything you’re doing. But it’s the people that make it interesting, too.”

When she first started her work in Bonita Springs government, she couldn’t imagine becoming city manager, Hunter said.

“I was hoping I’d be in (Bonita Springs), but I didn’t think I’d be in this position,” she said. “That would have been completely overwhelming for me at the time.”

Jane Swanson, who has been an assistant for every city manager in Bonita Springs since 2007, said she’s excited for Hunter’s term to begin.

“She’s an amazing lady,” Swanson said. “I don’t know how she does it with the twins. But nothing is life or death. Just take it a day at a time.”