For the first time since originally being elected as Oviedo mayor in 2019, Megan Sladek presided over the City Council meeting Monday night.
Sladek and Group 1 Council Member Natalie Teuchert were sworn in on Monday after an election that garnered much attention in Central Florida because of the city’s exponential growth over the past two decades.
When Sladek took the mayor seat in 2019, defeating opponents Randy Core and Emma Reichert with 44 percent of the vote, the Council nominated Deputy Mayor Bob Pollack as the presiding officer, meaning he led the City Council meetings. On Monday night, Pollack nominated Sladek as the presiding officer.
The Oviedo mayor traditionally presides over City Council meetings. Sladek said she’d like others on the Council to have a turn to preside as well because it promotes engagement.
“We have five equal votes and the mayor has the biggest megaphone. I think I proved over the last two years that it doesn’t matter who the chairman is, the mayor still holds the biggest megaphone,” she said. “So, to let someone else take a turn chairing, it makes you pay more attention.”
10 facts about Megan Sladek
- Born and raised in Oviedo
- Attended Oviedo High School
- Earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame and a law degree from the University of Florida
- Works as a real estate broker and owner of SunFlorida Realty
- Married to husband Paul and has three children: a 15-year-old daughter and two sons, ages 13 and 2
- Past careers include attorney and substitute teacher for Seminole County Public Schools
- Started a newspaper while in college documenting the activity at Oviedo City Hall
- Had a Florida Nursery Grower license, growing sunflowers and wheat grass
- Plays the harmonica
- Was an Oviedo City Council Member from 2016-2018 and elected for her first term as mayor in 2019
10 facts about Natalie Teuchert
- Lives in Alafaya Woods
- Has lived in Oviedo since the third grade but was born in New York and lived in Pennsylvania as a child
- Has four generations of family living in Oviedo
- Attended Lake Howell High School
- Earned her degree from Florida State University
- Played the saxophone in the FSU marching band and still plays today
- A mechanical engineer by profession
- Both her mother and father are mechanical engineers
- Married to husband Ben and has two sons, ages 1 and 2
- A big fan of jazz music and chickens (“It’s a nice thing that means home to me,” she said.)
