About
Cheatonville is an independent record of how the Town of Eatonville and its Community Redevelopment Agency conduct public business.
It exists for one reason: public decisions and public money should be easy for the public to follow.
Every item here is tied to a primary source and labeled by how well it's established. When officials follow the rules, that's on the record. When a decision runs against the Town's own policies, we put the two side by side. We welcome corrections and show them openly.
The aim isn't to attack — it's to make the record legible.
If the day comes when this site is unnecessary because process is consistently and transparently followed, we'll consider the job done.
How to read this site
Everything we publish is tied to a primary source, and every item is labeled so you can see how well it's established. Here's how to read what's on this site.
Established by a primary source you can check: a resolution, a meeting minute, a contract, a recording. We can point you to exactly where it's on the record.
What the Town's own rules, its Charter, the bylaws, or Florida statute actually say — quoted directly and cited, set beside what happened.
Not yet established. A question we can't answer until a specific public record comes back. We name the record and show its status rather than guess.
How we work
We don't publish anything we can't tie to a document or a recording. We don't call decisions "illegal" or "corrupt" — we quote the rule that applies, show what happened, and let you weigh the two.
When we don't know something yet, we say so, and we name the record that would settle it. When officials follow the process, that's on the record alongside everything else.
Who runs this site
Cheatonville is independently produced and self-funded. It carries no advertising and takes no money from any campaign, committee, business, or official body.
The site is published without a personal byline. Documenting a small town's government from close by carries a real risk of retaliation, and we would rather publish under a consistent, accountable masthead than not publish at all. What we ask you to trust is not a name — it's the record: every claim on this site is tied to the primary document or recording it comes from, linked whenever the record is online and cited precisely enough to request when it isn't, so you can verify the record yourself without taking our word for anything.
We stand behind everything published here. If something is wrong, tell us through the corrections page.
Found something wrong?
Tell us. We date and post every correction openly — we never quietly edit the record.