GrayRobinson Attorney Tom Cloud and City of Vero Beach Granted Declaratory Judgment on Invalid Charter Referendum

November 8, 2022

GrayRobinson Orlando-based attorney Tom Cloud co-counseled with Vero Beach City Attorney John Turner to successfully secure a declaratory judgment in favor of the City of Vero Beach invalidating a proposed charter referendum on the 2022 general election ballot. Vero Beach Preservation Alliance, Inc. (Alliance) submitted a referendum petition to city residents seeking to mandate charter referenda for a wide variety of activities on city-owned lands. After obtaining petition signatures, the Alliance modified the ballot language, which resulted in the city filing a complaint that the new ballot language was unconstitutional and requesting an expedited review by the court. After granting the city expedited review, the court invalidated the referendum based on a statutory violation that the ballot language could have misled voters. Though the results did not count, Vero Beach voters rejected the ballot initiative by a wide margin. Read – GrayRobinson Attorney Tom Cloud and City of Vero Beach Granted Declaratory Judgment on Invalid Charter Referendum.