1st DCA prohibits City from enforcing election results and taking over GRU until appeal is resolved
BY JENNIFER CABRERA
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The 1st District Court of Appeal issued an order this morning, granting the GRU Authority’s motion for a Constitutional Writ to prevent the City of Gainesville from taking over Gainesville Regional Utilities following Tuesday’s vote; the order preserves the status quo until the appeal is resolved.
The order reads, “The court grants Appellant/Cross-Appellee’s Emergency Motion for Constitutional Writ to Prevent Dissolution of Appellant/Cross-Appellee on November 6, 2025. Appellees/Cross-Appellants are hereby enjoined from taking any action to enforce any charter amendment resulting in the dissolution of Appellant/Cross-Appellee as set forth in any ordinance in the City of Gainesville until the resolution of this appeal.”
On November 3, the City of Gainesville filed a motion asking for an extension of the deadline to file an answer brief in the case, and the court also granted the City 20 days to file the brief. The GRU Authority filed the appeal in April, asking the court to overturn Judge George Wright’s decision that the City has the right to hold a referendum to amend its Charter and regain control of the utility.
City Commission & their minions be like…😫 & 😭
It ain’t over till the lard-arse sings.
Good. Let the tears of the compost-humping, pronoun-circle trust-fund socialists flow like the raw sewage they wanted to dump back into GRU bills.
The voters got played by a pack of city commissioners who couldn’t run a lemonade stand without tripling the price of lemons, and now a grown-up court just yanked their juice boxes away.
GRU stays with the Authority, the adults stay in charge, and the only thing getting dissolved today is the fantasy that Gainesville’s city government can manage anything bigger than a pothole.
Cry harder, commies—your ‘people’s utility’ just got saved FROM you.
DCA ruled correctly in this case. Back on April 1, GRUA initiated the appeal process. The Commission chose to move forward with another referendum, which was premature with the pending appeal. Judge Wright should have granted the stay prior to the vote as they are normally are when the appeal process runs its course.
GRU hopefully will stay in the Authority’s hands when all is said and done. I don’t trust this Commission (or those of the past decade) to have fiscal restraint nor not to increase the utility cost burden on GRU customers.
Good.
This ruling pertains to the merits of last year’s referendum. The recent referendum is also being challenged in a second suit before a different Judge (Walker). The language in this week’s referendum has yet to receive scrutiny and is likely to be found misleading as well. Then there will be a bond validation. We are looking at years of litigation costing enormous sums of money. It will be difficult to maintain the GRU bond ratings under this horrible circumstance. Unless the state intervenes in a big way, GRU’s future will be uncertain.