Display of Lighting and Customer Service | CES Sarasota
Joel, known by his landscape architect as ‘not a garden kind of guy,’ spent most of his adult life practicing law in Baltimore, but when cancer struck he sewed a new passion, which came to light thanks to the combined efforts of CES and one of their local customers. 
Joel and his wife owned a second home in Florida, which eventually became their permanent home. About 15 years ago, Mike Flanegin, Owner of NightAffects, Inc. in Sarasota, began working for the couple on their landscape lighting.
“They had nicely done landscaping. It was like a mini botanical garden and had huge banyan trees….I came out two or three times each year for maintenance service calls and always worked with his wife. He just was not interested nor involved with the landscape lighting…just not a garden kind of guy,” Flanegin recounted.
As their retired life on Longbeat Key progressed, Joel took up an unforeseen interest in the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. What started as mild interest flourished into deep passion and in time, he came to serve on the Board of Directors.
His fascination grew and eventually inspired him to totally revamp their landscaping – he took a slant with Japanese and Oriental garden styles, which bore the inspiration for his new design.
“He told me, ‘I’m going to be Selby Gardens, but in a neighborhood.’ He wanted to have tours and show it off at night. He fell in love with lighting…. He said, ‘You can have carte blanc [to design the lighting] and we’ll see what the budget comes to, but it’s got to be special. This is a special place and I want to make it special at night as well.”
After beginning the project, Joel was diagnosed with prostate cancer and completion of the garden was put on hold. Many months later, Flanegin received a call – Joel was starting to feel better and wanted to continue.
Flanegin questioned Joel asking if this was something he really wanted to do, which Joel enthusiastically affirmed.
Flanegin moved the completion of this project to the top of the priority list knowing he faced a binding deadline. City Electric Supply Sarasota Branch Manager Matt Ruark worked with equally matched urgency.
“In getting materials, I worked with Matt. There were a lot of lights, a lot of different fixture brightnesses, wattages, beam spreads, luments, etc., I don’t like to work with the same lights for all my projects, I want them to be unique. He worked quickly and got all the materials in an expedited timeframe. We were able to get the project done in four days thanks to Matt and his team pulling everything together so quickly. We couldn’t have done it without them.
I’ve been in business 26 years and I’ve worked with lots and lots of vendors, but Matt is my go-to guy, easily 90% of my work goes through him. When he first called me four years ago, it was just another cold call, but I sure am glad I returned that one,” Flanegin endorsed.
Ruark said vendor Kichler did an awesome job as well, “They were responsive and practically overnighted the necessary materials.”
It took a village, but the night the lights were aimed, while frail and feeble from the medicine, Joel wanted to see the project completed. With help, he walked the garden, and could be heard musing that it turned out exactly the way he envisioned it and exceeded his expectations.
The project closed approximately four weeks before Joel’s battle with cancer ended peacefully.
Flanegin commented, “I have never worked for someone in that situation who still wanted to complete a project. He knew he was leaving behind a legacy.”
Joel’s last name withheld for privacy purposes.