Sweetwater’s mayor defeats recall effort on appeal

A Miami appeals court ruled Wednesday that a petition effort to recall Sweetwater Mayor Orlando Lopez is invalid.

Siding with a Miami-Dade trial judge, a judicial panel of the Third District Court of Appeal said petition language encouraging voters in the tiny west Dade city to recall their mayor inaccurately argued that he had neglected his duty by missing commission meetings. Lopez, according to the court, has the option of attending city meetings under Sweetwater’s charter but his presence is not mandatory.

The petition drive was pushed by a political committee called Providing Effective Government for All Residents. The committee had hoped to force a recall election.

This story was originally published May 3, 2017 at 3:14 PM with the headline "Sweetwater’s mayor defeats recall effort on appeal."