Manatee County’s Drone Program: A Higher Standard

By Lea Harper, Building & Energy Technologies Section Manager, Manatee County Property Management

It’s hard to believe that Manatee County’s UAS (Drone) Program has been “live” for over three years now. And, wow, have we accomplished a lot since it started!

Manatee County’s first round of drone training in 2018 with some of our first Part 107 pilots.

Launched in 2018, the Manatee County UAS Program was established with the goal to give County employees the ability to complete a wide variety of functions in a safer and more efficient manner. How is that so? Well, one easy way to look at it is that it’s a whole lot easier (and safer) to perform roof, bridge, or water tower inspections with a drone than it is to send a person up to complete.

Drones have also been a valuable tool for responding to emergencies — just this past year, drones were an essential part of response operations for both Piney Point and red tide monitoring. But these are only a couple ways drones can be used — there are many others where daily operations have been made much easier!

County drone pilots assisting with overnight surveillance of Piney Point in April 2021

Getting to this point was no small feat. Using drones for work was still a relatively new concept when we got the idea to start a UAS Program, especially for a County government. There was a lot of homework involved to make sure we did everything right and to the best of our ability. Countless hours were spent researching, meeting with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) representatives, and working alongside County attorneys to draft a policy and procedure that would help guide the success of Manatee County’s UAS Program.

Training with County UAS pilots to teach them how to look for and monitor red tide in our waterways, and how to use the County’s new Matrice 300 RTK drone.

Today, the program boasts over 20 certified UAS pilots from eight different County departments. This talented team of individuals not only has a passion for drones, but they also embody the County’s A.C.E. philosophy (Accountability, Civility, and Ethics). Members of the program are required to complete extensive training, maintain an active Part 107 UAS Certification with the FAA, and perform a minimum amount of flight hours every year.

Left: UAS Pilot Hjalmar Pachas test flying the Matrice 300 RTK drone at our Red Tide Training Day; Right: Lea Harper, Building & Energy Technologies Section Manager, and Jasmine Seitz, Sustainability Intern, performing flight test for drone equipment.

Having such a large group of folks from different departments has allowed us to utilize drones for all kinds of projects, including:

• Gathering promotional material for County events or jobs (did you see Manatee County’s Hiring Expo commercial?!)
• Gaining awareness and insight during emergency situations
• Auditing facilities with thermal cameras for energy efficiencies and water intrusion
• Capturing high-resolution photos and video for construction project updates
• Performing utility and infrastructure inspections

…And much more!

We’re proud to be an innovative leader for other local government agencies seeking to start their own drone program, and we maintain close relationships with staff at the FAA and the local drone community. Keeping ahead and current with the latest UAS goings-on ensures we stay up to date with regulations and empowers Manatee County to “work smarter, not harder” for our citizens, effectively saving staff time and tax-payer dollars.