The Historical Society of Avon ParkAVON PARK, FL · EST. 1886
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Chapter 10320, Laws of Florida 1925: the charter of the City of Avon Park

The act

Chapter 10320 (No. 298), Laws of Florida 1925, a special act, approved 8 June 1925:

“AN ACT to Abolish the Present Municipal Government of the Town of Avon Park, Formerly DeSoto, Now Highlands County, Florida, and to Establish, Organize and Incorporate a City Government for the City of Avon Park; to Define Its Territorial Boundaries; to Prescribe Its Powers and Privileges, and Provide for the Exercise of Same, and to Authorize the Imposition of Penalties for the Violation of Its Ordinances.”[lof-1925-10320]

Sections 1 to 4 abolish the town outright, vest all its property, taxes, claims, judgments and liens in the new city, carry over every debt and contract unimpaired, keep the sitting officers in place for their unexpired terms, and keep every existing ordinance in force unless it conflicts with the new charter.

The boundary: from two and a quarter square miles to thirty-six

The 1913 town was a square a mile and a half on a side. Section 5 of the 1925 act makes the city

“Commencing at the southwest corner of Township Thirty-three (33) South, Range Twenty-eight (28) East, thence running East along the south line of said Township … Said incorporate limits to include all of Sections One (1) to Thirty-six (36) inclusive.”[lof-1925-10320]

The whole township — all thirty-six sections, thirty-six square miles. A sixteen-fold expansion, granted at the very peak of the Florida land boom, in the same month that dozens of Avon Park subdivisions were being platted. Nothing states the boom’s expectations more plainly than a town of a few thousand people annexing an entire survey township.

The government it created

A mayor on a two-year term and a City Council of five members, also on two-year terms, elected at large “until such time as the City shall be divided into wards by a vote of the electorate,” after which one councilman would be elected from each ward and one at large. Compensation fixed by ordinance and unchangeable during a term; every officer required to be a qualified voter of the city.

Ordinances required three readings, the first two in full unless the council unanimously agreed to a reading by title, with the measure lying over from one regular meeting to the next before final passage — subject to an emergency exception for the health or welfare of the city.

The charter carries a recall provision: on a petition signed before the city clerk at the city hall, and nowhere else, by registered voters equal to thirty per cent of the city registration, the council must call an election within fifteen days to fill the place of any elective officer petitioned against. It also allows the charter itself to be amended by a majority of the electors at an election called for the purpose, on four weeks’ published notice. Both are marks of the Progressive-era municipal reform movement.

The two bond acts beside it

The legislature dealt with Avon Park’s finances in the same run of chapters, and the two validating acts show what the boom was costing the town:

  • Chapter 10319 (No. 297), approved 2 June 1925, legalizes $18,000 of Street Improvement Bonds dated 1 January 1925, bearing six per cent, maturing $2,000 a year for nine years, authorized by Ordinance No. 85 of the Town Council adopted 22 December 1924 under Chapter 9298 of 1923, and sold on 12 January 1925.[lof-1925-10319]
  • Chapter 10321 (No. 299) legalizes a special bond election held in the Town of Avon Park on 3 April 1925 on issuing $240,000 of improvement bonds and $40,000 of refunding bonds.[lof-1925-10321]

In under four months the town went from borrowing $18,000 to voting $280,000.

When it actually took effect: 1 January 1926

The act sets its own start date, and it is not 1925. Section 46:

“This Act shall become effective and operative on the first day of January, 1926, provided that it shall be approved by the affirmative votes of a majority of the qualified electors of the now existing Town of Avon Park at an election which the Town Council of said Town is hereby directed to call and provide for, to be held on the first Tuesday in September, 1925.”[lof-1925-10320]

Section 47 then directs a further election, on the first Tuesday in December 1925, for the first mayor and City Council, who were to take office in January 1926. Section 48 allows the electors to amend the charter at any later election called for the purpose, on four weeks’ published notice.[lof-1925-10320]

So the National Register nomination, which says that in 1926 — the year the Hotel Jacaranda opened — “Avon Park changed its corporate status from a town to a city,” is right about the event.[nrhp-90000486] The statute is a 1925 statute; the city is a 1926 municipality. Give both, and say which is which.

One thing this does not establish is that the September 1925 referendum was actually held and carried. The act is conditional on it. The town’s minute books, or a newspaper of September 1925, would settle it.

References

Where this comes from

Evidence
single-source — One source. Treat as reported, not established.
Review
unverified — Drafted from sources but not yet checked by a volunteer.
Rights
society

Sources

  1. Legislature of the State of Florida, Chapter 10320 (No. 298), Laws of Florida 1925, Special Laws: An Act to Abolish the Present Municipal Government of the Town of Avon Park ... and to Establish, Organize and Incorporate a City Government for the City of Avon Park (1925)
  2. Legislature of the State of Florida, Chapter 10319 (No. 297), Laws of Florida 1925: An Act to Legalize and Validate the Issuance and Sale of Street Improvement Bonds of the Town of Avon Park in the Amount of $18,000 (1925)
  3. Legislature of the State of Florida, Chapter 10321 (No. 299), Laws of Florida 1925: An Act to Legalize and Validate a Special Bond Election Held in the Town of Avon Park on the 3rd Day of April, 1925 (1925)
  4. United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Avon Park Historic District (1990)

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