By Gary Ritter
Okeechobee City Administer
OKEECHOBEE — It has been decades since any work has been done on the exterior of City Hall or the old Fire Station, now referred to as the Public Safety Building. As everyone can see, much-needed work on City Hall and the Public Safety Building to harden the exterior of both facilities has begun and is quite noticeable from SR 70.
As you may know, both renovation projects were a goal more than 4 years ago when I started as the City Administrator. With the help of Representative Kaylee Tuck and Senator Erin Grall the City was awarded exterior hardening grants for both buildings during subsequent legislative sessions. We received a $1.2 million dollar grant for City Hall hardening from Florida Commerce in 2024 and a $2 million dollar grant from the Division of State Fire Marshal within the Florida Department of Financial Services for the hardening of the Public Safety Building in 2025.
Proctor Construction was awarded the bid for City Hall and has been working on the building now for almost two months with work on the roof, back porches, sidewalks and stucco. The next phases will be the placement of new clay roof tiles, impact windows, impact doors, and painting of the building. Construction is schedule to be completed on City Hall by July of 2026.
Proctor Construction was also awarded the contract to work on the hardening of the Public Safety Building. They are currently in the design build stage of the project and hopefully will be able to begin work in mid-June. The project will consist of replacing the roof, windows, doors, new stucco, painting, and the construction of a covered walkway connecting the building to City Hall.
[Photos by Cathy Womble, Lake Okeechobee News]
