OKEECHOBEE — The Okeechobee City Council established a charter review committee to go over the city’s charter and determine whether any changes need to be made. It has been about 60 years since the last review of the charter, and Councilman Bobby Keefe has been strongly urging the council to move forward on this since his election two years ago.

Originally, the committee was to consist of seven members and one alternate, but 10 people applied, and the council unanimously voted to accept them all as members. Suzanne Bowen, Noel A. Chandler, Steve Dobbs, Jamie Gamiotea, Jeremy R. LaRue, Sandy Perry, Gary Ritter, Myranda Whirls and Hoot Worley met Tuesday afternoon, Dec. 15, for the first time. Cary Pigman, who is also on the committee, was unable to attend the first meeting due to a prior commitment. Their first item of business was to elect a chairperson, and Ritter was elected as chairman for one meeting only with the understanding the committee would discuss it again at the next meeting when Pigman could be in attendance.

City attorney John Fumero explained the areas of law that apply to the committee. He discussed the code of ethics, and explained that accepting gifts to influence the outcome of decisions, etc. was a huge no-no. He explained the Sunshine Law, which affects all government meetings. “Basically, the Sunshine Law is that governmental decision-making and all the elements that go into that decision-making must be done in a publicly noticed meeting so that any member of the public can watch and participate in their government decision making process,” he explained. He said the meetings should always allow for public comment and they should remember that the public records laws apply to them as well.

The committee’s job will be to go through the charter and determine what, if any amendments they want to put in the charter. Fumero said the committee has the option to tinker with what is on the books now or just develop a whole new charter using templates of modern Florida city charters. He said if they chose that option, he would find templates from areas of a similar size. “We don’t need to build a Cadillac if we can get from point A to point B with a Chevy.” He explained that a city charter is the equivalent of a state or federal constitution. “It is the backbone of government.”

The committee requested some examples of charters from other small cities be available for them to review at their next meeting, and Fumero said he would make sure they had several.

The committee plans to meet twice a month. In January, those meetings will be on the 7th and 28th at 6 p.m. Future meetings will be announced in January. They will also be utilizing Zoom.

To see the charter visit https://library.municode.com/fl/okeechobee/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=PTICH
If you have any questions about the charter, the city clerk’s office will be happy to help. Call 863-763-3372.