City Commissioner Gail Johnson announces resignation

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

Stating that she no longer sees “the path to continue serving the people of Gainesville,” Gainesville City Commissioner Gail Johnson has announced her resignation, effective September 23, at a hastily-called Special Meeting held today.

The meeting’s agenda had no details, just one agenda item: “Governance: The City Commission discuss Governance and take action deemed necessary.” Mayor Lauren Poe was absent, which was presumably related to his search yesterday for a COVID test, so Johnson, as Mayor Pro Tem, chaired the meeting.

Johnson began by saying, “So this was not an easy decision for me to make. After a lot of thought, prayer, and conversations with trusted friends, family, and mentors, I have decided to resign from my position as Commissioner for the City of Gainesville. The collective good has always been the reason why I do this job. And I believe the reason I am here is to advocate for those most underserved by local government. However, for more than a year, it has become increasingly difficult to do the job I was twice elected to do. I can do any challenging job, as long as I see a light at the end of the tunnel, as long as I see a path. I no longer see the path that will allow me to continue serving the people of Gainesville in the way I know you deserve.

“It has never been my style to sugar coat, curry favor, or mince my words. This is not a game with 3-D chess for me. Governing is not an academic exercise for me. I show up for this job every day, knowing in my bones how the decisions we make are directly impacting people’s lives. So I always do my best to operate with integrity. To me, integrity is choosing courage over comfort. It is choosing to practice your values, rather than simply professing them.

“Repeatedly, the following examples have called the integrity of the Commission into question. I continue to remain concerned about the retention of the City Manager. I continue to remain concerned about the opaque relationship with Colliers, the CAPER department [Office of Capital Asset Planning & Economic Resilience], and the sudden focus on valuable publicly-owned land. I continue to remain concerned about unkept promises we made to focus on east side development with CRA funds.

“I continue to remain concerned about the strained relationship with other important partners in this work, such as the County, School Board, UF, and our own employees. I continue to remain concerned about the once-in-a-decade incredible opportunity we have with the Comprehensive Plan update that will be overshadowed by the push for up-zoning, which will erroneously be used as a talking point for achieving racial equality.

“Considering many recent events, I remain concerned about the commitment to equity and inclusion in the City at the highest levels, including this board and members of our leadership team. There is a clear disconnect and misunderstanding about the priorities that will move us toward racial and gender equity. The fact is that this next fiscal year of work will be predicated on the Strategic Plan.

“I fundamentally do not agree with the process of how we arrived at the priorities outlined in the Strategic Plan or the execution of the priorities over the last year. The outsized focus on development is problematic.

“Which brings me to my first and central concern: the retention of the City Manager. Power has been abused and misused. We have quickly gone from working in a low-trust environment to a no-trust environment. The cost of this type of dysfunction is just too high. I am resigning because people often don’t remember the individual contributions a Commissioner makes to the body. They remember the decisions of the entire body.

“I no longer wish to be associated with the majority voice of this body. I no longer wish to be associated with the decisions of the City Manager. I refuse to be complicit in decisions just by my mere presence, even if I dissent.

“During the past 18 months, it has become increasingly delicate how life is and how precious our time on this earth is. I want to work with people and environments where actions speak louder than words. I want to spend my valuable time working in spaces where my contributions and my perspective are valued, where my core values are in alignment with the people I work with, and where I can successfully spend my time working towards desperately-needed systemic change.”

She announced that “for the sake of budget season,” her last meeting will be when they vote on the budget on September 23. Her last day in City Hall will be a week later. A discussion on a special election will be held at an upcoming City Commission meeting.

City Commissioner Desmon Duncan-Walker said, “I feel kind of like the wind has been knocked out of me a little bit. I certainly was not expecting this today.” She said she “underscored” Johnson’s concerns and made a motion to terminate the contract of City Manager Lee Feldman, but the motion died for lack of a second. The Commission voted 4-3 to retain Feldman on November 24, 2020, with Johnson, Commissioner David Arreola, and former Commissioner Gigi Simmons in dissent. Duncan-Walker was not yet on the Commission.