OKEECHOBEE — The Okeechobee City Council called a town hall meeting for Thursday, Nov. 5 in the council chambers, and only two individuals came forward to speak.

The first, Suzanne Bowen, who serves on the newly formed charter committee, told the council she lives on Southwest Ninth Street and is concerned about the overgrowth of kudzu in and around the ditches surrounding her property. She said that, driving down the streets around her, the waterways are very well maintained, but when you get to her property, it is “kudzu heaven!” She said nothing has been maintained, and it is filthy. Her family has dug out weeds blocking the metal culverts running beneath her driveways, but the city has not done any work on the area in the two-plus years she has lived there, she said.

“We did call out public works last summer, because it got so bad with the rain that it was encroaching into our yard,” she said. They came out and dug a hole near one of the driveways. “That’s all they did.” She went on to say, with another tropical storm coming and all the rain here in the last month, she wondered what options she has as a homeowner. “Can I do it myself, or am I going to get in trouble? Who do I call? Can I yank all that garbage out, or will I be doing something I shouldn’t?”

Mayor Dowling Watford Jr. laughingly told her she could do all the work she liked for the city. On a more serious note, he told her they would check into the situation and get back with her right away.

The second comment came in the form of a letter written by Jennifer Tewksbury, executive director of the Economic Council of Okeechobee. In the letter, Tewksbury mentioned some of the things the council has done that economic council members believe are improvements to the community. Among these improvements, she lists an increased investment in and value placed on professional legal counsel; demonstrating fiscal responsibility by approving the interlocal agreement for fire and rescue services; increasing transparency with the implementation of the city website; publishing public meeting materials online and on time and the video-recorded city council meetings; engaging the community in the citizen-led charter review initiative; collaborating with the economic council on Flagler Park improvements and welcoming citizen engagement with the implementation of a design review committee; and, finally, with a request for qualifications from landscape architect professionals.

The letter goes on to list things the economic council would like to see the city council do in the future. Some of those listed are to place a greater importance on community aesthetics; to raise expectations for road improvements, drainage and other infrastructure developments; and to continue supporting code enforcement by hiring full-time professionals.

After the letter was read into the record by Watford, Tewksbury came forward to speak and thanked the council for hosting the town hall meeting, saying the gratitude expressed in her letter was heartfelt and genuine. “Those are really great steps forward,” she said.

Councilman Bob Jarriel said the town hall meetings started a couple of years ago, and there was a good turnout at the first one. He said the council and staff went to work right away on the things brought up at that meeting. “It’s very important to us to hear from the public,” he said. “I don’t know how we can get more attendance.” He said he passed out a lot of town hall meeting fliers and was told by many that they would be there, but then they did not come.

“We’re here to serve the public. We will vote on a lot of issues next year. Every issue we vote on has effect on somebody. Somebody will be affected by every vote.” He would like to see more people attend and tell the council members what they can do better. “We will also take a compliment. That would be OK, too,” he said with a laugh.

Mayor Watford held up the letter from the economic council and said, “We got one here.”

Councilman Jarriel went on to say the council is here for the taxpayers, be they citizens or businesses.

Lasting only 17 minutes, the town hall meeting ended with coffee and donuts.