Citizens ask court to invalidate Governors’ appointments to GRU Authority
BY JENNIFER CABRERA
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Robert “Hutch” Hutchinson and Jeffrey Shapiro, board members of Gainesville Residents United, today filed a lawsuit in a Leon County court to invalidate Governor Ron DeSantis’ appointments to the GRU Authority.
The Petition for Writ of Quo Warranto, filed this morning, argues that a judge should declare the appointments void because the Governor did not provide the required public notice and the three appointees are not qualified electors of the City of Gainesville, one of the requirements for all but “a minimum of one member.”
The complaint states that “multiple public records request [sic]” have failed to unearth any advertisement for the position, which is required under the bill at least 30 days before the appointments are made. Exhibits attached to the complaint show public records requests to the Governor and to Senator Keith Perry but not Representative Chuck Clemons, who sent out a press release on June 30 announcing that applications were being accepted for the Authority. The records requests ask for “a copy of the ‘public notice'” referred to in the bill, and the offices of both Governor DeSantis and Senator Perry responded that they had no documents responsive to the request.
In the complaint, Hutchinson and Shapiro “maintain that the Governor’s appointments are a legal nullity and that no member has been properly appointed to the Authority Board” and ask the judge to declare that all appointments are void, declare that “the individuals who were nominally appointed to the Authority Board by the Governor have no power or authority to act in that capacity,” and require the Governor to issue a public notice soliciting nominations for the board at least 30 days before making any appointments.
The complaint further states that if the judge decides that the Governor has provided public notice, “the Governor must be directed to select which of the otherwise unqualified individuals is to serve” as the member living outside the city limits. The petitioners add that this would only leave one member on the Authority, and “no action may be taken by a single member.”
Hutchinson and Shapiro serve on the board of Gainesville Residents United, Inc., a non-profit organization that “educates, advocates, negotiates, and litigates issues of importance to the community.” The nonprofit also filed a separate July 2023 federal lawsuit to stop the implementation of the bill. That litigation is in early procedural stages with a calendar to be set by the judge in the upcoming weeks.
Hutchinson told the Alachua Chronicle, “We don’t know if the Quo Warranto action will prevent the Utility Authority from being sworn in on Wednesday, October 4th, as called for in the statute. We do wonder if the non-resident members will actually swear an oath ‘that they are duly qualified to hold office’ when they, the Mayor, our local legislative delegation, the Governor’s office, and the public all know that they are not. It will be interesting if the very first action taken by the members of this new Utility Authority is to break the law.”
Clemons told us, “This is just another lame attempt to fight good and reasonable governance for the ratepayers of GRU… Please be assured, rate relief is coming and there will be a marked difference in the way decisions are made.”
I’m a resident of Gainesville and they don’t speak for me.
Ditto!!!
The law is clear, Rep Clemons intent is clear. Gov DeSantis messed this up.
Not as much as the City Commission and that idiot Mayor have messed up GRU & the city.
Robert “Hutch” Hutchinson and Jeffrey Shapiro are both scumbags and they do not speak for the people of Gainesville.
“Gainesville Residents United” is a fake astroturf organization.
History and the city’s repeated credit downgrades prove that the Gainesville city commission cannot be trusted to manage GRU’s finances.
Our local petty beaurocrats have been stealing from city and county residents for decades, driving the utility into $1.7 billion in debt and forcing ratepayers to pay the price with some of the highest rates in the state.
The city should be dissolved by the State for at least 10 years to starve out the corruption.
You just know the Governor’s staff is laughing their you know what off at the City and this local ‘group’.
Tallahassee is holding all the cards… and they are using them just to get under their skin. And I support it.
I hope this activist group has enough money to pay the legal bills of GRU and the state for all the BS they are spewing. I can’t think of a single positive thing “Hutch” has done for the citizens of Gainesville or Alachua County for all the time he has tried to be on the public dole.
He will forever be remembered as the Moron with the smug face that had everyone standing outside Publix at 6 foot intervals…. And who wanted the gestapo to come into private homes to count “partygoers”.
*police.
You might recall how this cretin Hutch referred to himself as a “dictator” when the phony Covid crisis started. It seems that morons with a limp schwazola always wish to impose arbitrary stiff requirements on everybody else.
Wasn’t he the one who created Alachua County forever and then became their director?
Typical Socialist/Communist… based on my research (could be wrong) he’s never had a job in the private sector. Has just leached off of taxpayers his whole career.
Can anyone explain to me how a few people can afford to file a lawsuit against the state when the city claims it just spent almost a 1/2 a million dollars of taxpayer millions on the one the just lost. I smell a rat 🐀🐀🐀
They are getting that money from somewhere. It’s probably being siphoned off of the top of one of our many assessments, taxes, etc…they even had a whole logo put together for their little group, isn’t that just adorable? Someone had to pay for that, don’t ya know. This place is becoming more and more of a laughing stock by the day.
I would really like a forensic accounting of that half million dollars. I smell a rat.
Democrats can’t get enough corruption in the city commission. They just can’t stand that DeSantis ordered this because he is a Republican, even though this is for the protection of the citizens interest. Just stupid.
NOT TO TRUE DEMOCRATS, SOCIALIST’S/COMMIES
More lawyer fee$$$$$
These radical democrats 503 entity needs to be fully investigated and all their donors exposed . What kind of beeches would have any interest in not trying to save GRU , which their agenda put on life support. They should be sued .
Notice.
Widespread publicity about the nomination process provided far more notice than would arise from a legal ad in one outlet. Qualification.
I agree that four initial appointees must be “a qualified elector” in the City of Gainesville. The legislation does not specify when such status must be obtained. Judge Dempsey held until ” ….the Authority, once established, makes a change….” the status quo is preserved and there is no injury. An Attorney General opinion could be timely and helpful.
So a group called Gainesville RESIDENTS United led by a former County Commissioner who didn’t actually lived in his district and is not a Gainesville resident, wants his friends to continue running GRU into the ground? Their hypocrisy knows no bounds. When it’s one of their own they look the other way and bend the rules. When it’s someone they oppose, it’s the end of the world.
Hutch still selling snake oil to anyone who will believe him. He’s always been good at spending other people’s money and telling them what to do.
“Hutch! Go screw yourself on one of the trees you like hugging!”
Why do the members need to be citizens of Gainesville? I live outside Gainesville, but still I am forced to buy electricity from the GRU monopoly.
This is the better solution. Just have GRU cut power to everyone who isn’t within the city limits. Then those of us who are residents wouldn’t have to deal with non-residents complaining about the power we supply them.
I would love for GRU to stop at the city limits. That way the 40% of us would not be supporting you and the idiot ideas that the woke citizens and the leaders of Gainesville have so please make my day and get it done. Also how do you enjoy your 29% property tax increase
Not complaining about the power being supplied. Complaining their voices go unheard, the continued increase of rates and the misallocation of their funds for pet projects and hidden agendas.
Us county residents could go back to Clay electric. I was a Clay Electric customer and was forced into GRU.
I am all for the city losing control of GRU. It closes off their ability to use ratepayers to fund their pet projects. However the bill was clear as to residency of the board members and you’d think that the LEAST DeSantis could do, given that he gets to appoint three members of a five member board, is follow the simple rules.
By thumbing his nose at the requirements, he just gave the city and their political operatives a hook to hang another lawsuit on. If he was not such a jerk about things like this, we’d be done with this endless back and forth.
It may be that no one within city limits, that. was willing to be considered had the necessary experience, intelligence, or willingness to work for the betterment of GRU and its customers. And not try tp put the city politicians first. Is “Hutch” mad because he wasn’t chosen?
From what I remember they still have positions to fill and not everyone had to be from the city.
Three of five have to live within city limits. DeSantis appointed three who don’t live within the city limits. Which means one of the three need to have their political favor rescinded.
Their primary residence needs to be within city limits according the the press release.
Press releases aren’t laws.
Yeah, so, I’m glad you figured that out.
The press release quotes the law as to who can be appointed to the new board.
Hutch lives outside the GRU service area, has NO STANDING. I bet other lawyer donors do too.
THIS IS JUST AN ATTEMPT BY A COUPLE OF PROGRESSIVE SOCIALIST’S/?, TO MAINTAIN THE STATUS QUO IN GAINESVILLE/ALACHUA COUNTY, I HOPE THE JUDGE IN LEON COUNTY THROW THEIR REQUEST OUT.
They can’t accept reality can they? That someone actually stood up to them and has the power to tell THEM what’s gonna happen. It’s never happened to them before.
Imagine having millions of your peers dollars at your pleasure to fund every liberal notion you can make up to help people who won’t help themselves. And then POOF! no more piggy bank.
They are petrified indeed. I only wish to be a fly on the wall playing a violin while they wail and wallow and blame everyone but themselves.
Frickin Awesome😄
https://www.wcjb.com/2023/07/02/applications-new-gru-board-now-open/
Is this not the public announcement? I saw several news articles stating the application process was open.
The new law has several requirements for the five directors, including:
One must be a residential customer with substantial knowledge of GRU, its operations, and its history.
One must be the owner or representative of a private, nongovernmental customer consuming at least 10,000-kilowatt hours per month of electricity during the previous 12 months.
Three must be competent and knowledgeable in one or more specific fields including, but not limited to, law, economics, accounting, engineering, finance, or energy.
To be eligible for appointment and to remain a director, each must:
Maintain their primary residence within the electric service territory of GRU’s electric utility system
Receive GRU electric utility system service at all times during the term of appointment
Have no felony conviction
Be a qualified elector of the City, except that at least one member must be a resident of the unincorporated area of Alachua County or a municipality in the county other than the City of Gainesville.
The governor should declare the city Void because it is not acting in the interest of its citizens. Bulldoze that ugly city hall building and turn it into a green-space for downtown.