Highlands County is governed by five elected County Commissioners and an appointed County Administrator . The County Administrator and the Assistant County Administrator have executive powers to implement the policies and procedures set forth by the Board. The County Administrator manages an annual budget in excess of $100 million dollars and oversees more than 350 county employees in nearly 30 departments, divisions and offices. Together, the board and the county administrators work to provide quality services, programs and information to the more than 80,000 residents in Highlands County .

Supervising the day-to-day workings of one of the fastest growing rural counties in Central Florida is extremely challenging. Carl Cool has been the County Administrator for over thirteen years, but he’s been a public servant nearly all his working life. An Engineer by trade, Carl was the President and Director of the Florida Association of County Engineers and past Director of the National Association of County Engineers. In 1989, Carl was awarded Florida’s Rural County Engineer of the Year.

After graduating from the University of South Florida in 1975, Carl was hired as an Assistant Engineer for the Highlands County Engineering Department. He moved up the administrative ladder quickly. He was first promoted to Public Works Director and then, in 1991, to County Administrator .

Since then, he’s led the county through a period of tremendous growth. He was instrumental in the conception and design of the Sebring Parkway, a multi-million dollar road project that connected arterial streets throughout the county to US 27, and he’s presented a balanced budget for 13 years with the blessing of each constitutional officer. In fact, the 2003 budget included merit pay and salary increases for some county staff, and a reduction in the cost of health care benefits.

He is married to Maureen Cool and they have five children.