Meet our Senior Leaders / Chuck Luther - Environmental Administrator - Biography

Chuck Luther is a public health professional with 30 plus years of experience in Environmental Public Health. As Environmental Administrator for the Volusia County Health Department, Luther manages a department of 40 team members who are responsible for a wide variety of environmental health programs designed to protect the citizens of Volusia County from diseases of environmental origin. After his Honorable discharge from the United States Air Force in 1975, Luther completed his college studies at the University of South Florida where he graduated in 1977 with a degree in Criminal Justice. Chuck Luther began his state career in October 1978 at the HRS/Volusia Regional Juvenile Detention Center as a Supervisor. He joined the Volusia County Health Department in 1981 as a Sanitarian Aide. His initial duties involved the animal bite (Rabies Control) and Sanitary Nuisance programs. Later, he was promoted to a Sanitarian I and was responsible for all Food Hygiene establishment inspections in West Volusia. In 1986, Luther was promoted to Environmental Specialist II and transferred into the Environmental Engineering Section. There he was responsible for commercial onsite sewage permitting, lime stabilization facilities inspections and septic tank manufacturer inspections. In addition, Luther was given responsible for public drinking water distribution plan reviews and sanitary surveys of public drinking water systems regulated under the Florida Safe Drinking Water Act. In 1991, Luther was promoted to Assistant Environmental Health Director and given county wide responsibilities for the onsite sewage program, the Limited Use Public Drinking Water program and the SUPER (Petroleum Contamination) Act Program. In 2007 Luther was selected as the current Environmental Administrator for the Department. In addition to the above, Luther has extensive experience in Public Health Preparedness. In 2004 he was an Environmental Health Strike Team Leader in southwest Florida after the state was struck by four hurricanes in six weeks. He also assisted the department team after the 2007 Groundhog Day tornadoes that destroyed his office and the West Volusia Health Dept Clinic facility in DeLand. Recently Luther served as an Incident Commander during the 2009 H1N1 Vaccination Campaign. This campaign distributed about 128,900 doses of the H1N1 flu in Volusia County for protection against influenza. He is a Life Member of the Florida Environmental Health Association (FEHA) having joined the organization in 1986. He is a Registered Sanitarian and Certified Environmental Health Professional. Luther has served in numerous positions in FEHA both in the Halifax District and state FEHA Board of Directors, including President of the Association in 1999-2000. Luther has been recognized with a number of awards such as the state FEHA Outstanding Environmental Health Professional Award for 1989-90 and in 2004, he received the distinguished Charlie Rhodes award, given to Registered Sanitarians for years of dedicated service. Luther is very outgoing with hobbies that include camping, kayaking, riding motorcycles, and traveling. He enjoys working with the many dedicated and talented staff in Environmental Health who do a great job of protecting the public health of the citizens of Volusia County and our visitors.