Special Magistrate Overby almost loses 16-year position
BY PRU SOWERS
KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER
After being the only judge to hold the Key West Special Magistrate position since it was created almost 17 years ago, J. Jefferson Overby came within one vote of losing his job when three of the seven members of the city commission cast their ballot for a local challenger.
Overby, a former public defender, state attorney and Monroe County Circuit Court Judge, was reappointed to a two-year term after city commissioners and Mayor Craig Cates submitted written ballots at their March 17 meeting ranking each of the three attorneys who had applied for the position. Overby was ranked the top candidate by four commission members but Commissioners Tony Yaniz, Billy Wardlow and Clayton Lopez selected local attorney David Van Loon as their choice.
“For the same reason I agree with term limits,” Lopez said when asked why he didn’t support Overby. “After a while, you get stale. It’s not about the individual. Jeff has done a marvelous job.”
“Jeff has done this a long time. He’s done a great job. But every now and then it’s time for a change. I’ve heard sometimes his tenure on the job made him a little rough around the edges,” Yaniz said.
The Special Magistrate position was created in 1998 when city officials created a separate, impartial code compliance hearing judge to rule on building code violation cases and requests made to the city for code variances. Overby was appointed to the position and his contract has been extended ever since.
However, Key West City Clerk Cheri Smith said officials decided to issue a request for proposals this year, in effect opening up the position. In addition to Overby and Van Loon, Boca Raton Attorney Jed Schneck responded to the RFP. Schneck and Van Loon appeared before commissioners at their March 3 meeting to outline their credentials.
Overby was unable to make that meeting so commissioners delayed the decision until he could appear before them on March 17. At that meeting, Overby laid out his legal credentials, saying he had heard over 1,000 code compliance cases in the past 10 years alone.
“I’m really proud of the fact that in the last 16 and a half years I’ve never called in sick, I’ve never not appeared when I was supposed to be at work. I really look forward to the hearings each month,” he said, adding, “I am truly the best choice you have.”
Commissioner Wardlow, who supported Van Loon, said he had heard that Overby was selling his residence in Key West and was moving to another state. Overby said that he has put both his Key West properties up for sale but he has no intention of leaving the city.
“I don’t have any plans to leave Key West,” he said after the meeting. “I don’t know why the vote was 4-3. I wish it had been unanimous but it wasn’t. I’m curious. There has never been anyone apply for this job in 16 years.”
“Jeff has been doing a great job. It was just time for a change,” Wardlow said, “Something different, just like an election. He’s been there a long time.”
City Manager Jim Scholl will now negotiate a new two-year contract with a possible two-year extension with Overby. He currently is paid $18,360 a year. The Special Magistrate hears cases one day a month.
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