The Florida League of Cities presented Town Commissioner Joan Orthwein with a framed resolution in recognition of her service to Gulf Stream. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
By Steve Plunkett
Gulf Stream Town Commissioner Joan Orthwein was hailed as “a remarkable public servant” while being recognized by the Florida League of Cities for her more than 30 years as an elected official.
“Today we celebrate not just years but decades of meaningful service, of showing up and making a difference,” Michael Morrill, a representative of the league, told Orthwein and her colleagues at the Town Commission’s July 11 meeting.
Morrill gave her a framed resolution, signed by the league’s board of directors, recognizing her “selfless commitment” and her “significant sacrifices” of time and energy.
“I hope everyone enjoys living here,” said Orthwein, whose first Town Commission meeting was in May 1995. “It’s been an honor to be on the commission and to be among all these wonderful people. It’s been good.”
The league named the honor the Mayor John Land Years of Service Award after a mayor of Apopka who served for more than 60 years.
The recognition goes to only a few each year. Last year, the league honored four officials for reaching the 30-year mark, two for serving 35 years and two who had reached 40 years.
Back in 2020, during the pandemic, the league praised Orthwein’s reaching 25 years of service via a video recording. At the time, Mayor Scott Morgan noted that she had also served for seven years as an appointed member of the town’s Architectural Review and Planning Board. She chaired the ARPB before moving to the commission, and has also been the town’s vice mayor and mayor.
“With every issue that has confronted this town, you have always addressed it with your characteristic grace and dignity, which is really unusual I think in municipal government,” Morgan said. “It’s been a pleasure with you as my friend to sit with you on this dais.”
Orthwein isn’t the longest-serving Gulf Stream official ever. Former Mayor William F. Koch served for 56 years — 46 as mayor and 10 as commissioner — before his death in 2012 at age 91.
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