OKEECHOBEE — Those who have gotten used to attending the Okeechobee City Council meetings via Zoom may have noticed the Dec. 15 meeting had no Zoom link. This was explained as the meeting began. For months now, the city has been working towards having closed captioning of their meetings so they can be posted online. In addition, they are working on the audio quality to ensure the best possible audio for those listening. Because the company doing the installation has had so many all over South Florida, it has taken quite a bit of time. Now they are waiting on a few parts to come in, and hopefully it will be finished soon. When everything is completely set up, the meetings will be put on YouTube as they were for several months during the state of emergency.

One of the first things on the agenda this week was a presentation of proposals by professional landscape architect services. There were five presentations:
• Michael Flaugh;

• CPH, Inc.;
• Chen Moore and Associates;
• Community Solutions Group; and,
• Calvin, Giordano & Associates, Inc.

After some discussion, the council chose to accept the rankings made by the staff. The presentations were done after the staff ranked the services a few weeks ago, and Councilman Bobby Keefe said he wanted the council to be more involved in the process. After the presentations, he complimented the staff and said, “I hope there was no offense taken by my previous comments or inquisitions into the process. I am very procedural, and it’s the principle of things.” Councilman Bob Jarriel, who had agreed with Councilman Keefe said, “At the end of the night, you guys made the right decision. We’re hard-headed, but y’all made the right decision.”

Negotiations will begin with the company ranked number one by staff.