Glossary — Eatonville Government, in Plain Language
ReferenceThis page explains the words that come up at Eatonville meetings and in the coverage on this site — in plain language, with a link to the governing document wherever one defines the term. If a term you've run into isn't here, tell us and we'll add it.
The bodies
Town Council
Eatonville's elected governing body — the Mayor and Council members who pass the town's laws and budget. Eatonville uses a "Mayor-Council" form of government, set out in the Town Charter: the Council makes policy, and the Mayor is the chief executive who runs the town's day-to-day government.
CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency)
A separate legal body — formally the Town of Eatonville Community Redevelopment Agency, or TOECRA — created in 1997 to fight "slum and blight" in a defined part of town using a special funding stream (see tax increment financing, below). It is not the same thing as the Town, even though the five Council members sit on its board along with two appointed members. Its rulebook is the CRA bylaws, and its founding to-do list is the 1997 Redevelopment Plan. Ongoing coverage lives at Eatonville CRA.
CRA Board of Directors
The seven people who govern the CRA: the five Town Council members plus two appointed members — one nominated by Orange County and one appointed by the Town Council (bylaws §2.3).
Executive Director
The CRA's top staff member, who runs the agency between board meetings. The bylaws limit how much the Executive Director can spend without board approval (bylaws §3.4.3).
CAO (Chief Administrative Officer)
The Town's top appointed administrator under the Charter, who assists the Mayor — the official the Charter puts in charge of staff and departments — in running the town's administration and coordinates its day-to-day functions.
At the meeting
Agenda and agenda packet
The agenda is the meeting's published to-do list. The packet is the agenda plus its backup material — the resolutions, contracts, and reports the board is being asked to act on. When this site says something is "not in the packet," it means the board is being asked to approve an item whose backup material wasn't published with the agenda.
Consent agenda
A group of items passed together in a single vote, with no individual discussion — meant for routine business. Any member can "pull" an item off consent to discuss and vote on it separately. Watch for substantive items placed on consent: bundled together, they can pass without a word of discussion.
Regular meeting, special meeting, and workshop
A regular meeting is a scheduled, recurring session where the body can take votes. A special meeting is one called outside the regular schedule, usually for specific items. A workshop is discussion-only — the body talks through a subject but takes no votes; any actual decision has to come back to a regular or special meeting.
Citizen participation (public comment)
The part of the meeting where residents can speak — in Eatonville, typically near the start, three minutes per speaker. You can speak on any item, and you can also email the Town Clerk in advance to have a comment read into the record.
Quorum
The minimum number of members who must be present for the body to legally act at all.
Three votes to act
Eatonville's Charter requires at least three affirmative votes of the Council for any official action (Charter §2.10(c)) — which is why a 2-2 vote fails even though it isn't a majority against.
Tabled
Set aside without deciding it — often by a vote to table, sometimes without one. A tabled item isn't defeated — it can come back at a later meeting, and on this site you'll see items reappear after being tabled.
Walk-on item
An item added to the agenda at the meeting itself, after the agenda was published — meaning the public had no advance notice it would be acted on.
Abstain and recuse
To abstain is to sit out a vote; to recuse is to step away from an item entirely because of a conflict of interest. Florida ethics law (§112.3143) governs when an official must not vote.
Minutes
The official written record of what a body did at a meeting. Minutes aren't final until the body votes to approve them — usually at a later meeting.
Legislation and paperwork
Resolution
A formal written decision of the Council or CRA board — approving a contract, adopting a budget, stating a position. Numbered like CRA-R-2026-29 (CRA) or 2026-33 (Town). Most of what the CRA board does, it does by resolution.
Ordinance
A town law — stronger than a resolution. Ordinances normally require two public readings at separate meetings before adoption; an emergency ordinance can pass in a single meeting on a supermajority vote.
First and second reading
The two-step process for ordinances: the first reading introduces the law, the second (usually with a public hearing) adopts it.
RFP (Request for Proposals)
The formal, advertised process for inviting companies to compete for public work. Eatonville's purchasing policy requires formal competitive selection and Town Council approval for purchases over $25,000 — and bars splitting a purchase into smaller pieces to duck under that line.
Purchase order (PO)
The document that authorizes a specific purchase from a specific vendor, drawn against a budget line. Who can sign one depends on the dollar amount (purchasing policy; for the CRA, bylaws §3.4.3).
Interlocal agreement
A contract between two governments — for example, the agreement under which the Town provides services to the CRA and gets reimbursed.
The money
TIF (tax increment financing)
The CRA's funding stream. When property values inside the redevelopment area rise above their starting point, the extra property-tax money — the "increment" — goes to the CRA instead of the Town's or County's general budgets. That money must be spent on redevelopment purposes under Chapter 163, Part III, Florida Statutes.
CRA Trust Fund
The dedicated account where the CRA's tax-increment money lives. The CRA board is the fiduciary — the legally responsible caretaker — of this fund.
Fiscal year (FY)
The government's budget year. In Florida, local fiscal years run October 1 through September 30, so "FY 2025-26" means October 2025 through September 2026.
Budget vs. financials
The budget is the plan for the year's money, adopted before the year starts. The financials (or financial reports) are the monthly and annual statements showing what was actually collected and spent. Approving financials months late — or without the underlying reports in the packet — is a pattern this site tracks.
Audit
An independent accountant's annual examination of the books. An audit finding is a problem the auditor formally reports — like missing controls or misclassified spending. (Different from this site's Findings, which are our own document-based examinations.)
Millage
The property-tax rate, expressed in "mills" — one mill is $1 of tax per $1,000 of taxable property value.
Openness rules
Sunshine Law
Florida's open-meetings law (§286.011): boards must do their business in public, with notice, and keep minutes. Two members of the same board generally can't discuss board business privately.
Public records
Under Chapter 119, Florida Statutes, nearly every document a Florida government makes or receives is a public record any person may inspect and copy. You don't have to give your name or say why you're asking.
Public records request
The ask itself. It can be as simple as an email: name the records, the date range, and ask for electronic copies. Agencies may charge for extensive staff time, but must respond in a reasonable time and can't demand your identity or purpose.