Gainesville City Commission adds Friday afternoon Special Meeting to reconsider GRU resolution
BY JENNIFER CABRERA
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Gainesville City Commission has scheduled a rare Friday afternoon Special Meeting to reconsider the GRU bond resolution that was tabled at their December 14 meeting.
The resolution on the December 22 agenda appears to be identical to the resolution that was considered at the December 14 meeting.
Two commissioners were absent on December 14
On December 14, Commissioner Bryan Eastman objected to a clause in the resolution that said the GRU Authority “is delegated all authority to take all actions on behalf of the City under the bond resolution.” He said it “seems like a much broader delegation of authority.”
Commissioner Cynthia Chestnut said, “Usually people would come and meet with us and discuss these issues… I would prefer not to vote on this today.”
Eastman’s motion to table the resolution until the first meeting in January passed 4-1, with Mayor Harvey Ward in dissent and Commissioners Desmon Duncan-Walker and Reina Saco absent.
After the vote, City Attorney Daniel Nee said, “I understand that the Commission wants to and has decided to delay consideration of this resolution, but I hope it’s not out of concern that there’s confusion between our office and that of the utility or bond counsel as to what needs to be done to effectuate the fulfillment of the charter requirements, the bond resolution requirements, and the demands of the debt portfolio. Again, I understand that they desire further education and interaction more directly with members from the utility system, and I will do everything we can to facilitate that.”
GRU Authority Chair Craig Carter requested a Special Meeting
At the GRU Authority meeting later that evening, both GRU CEO Tony Cunningham and CFO Claudia Rasnick said the delay introduced risk for GRU. Rasnick said, “Now we’re another 30-ish days before we can actually start the process. And if we have any bumps in the road, there’s very limited time in order to deal with that, and we have,essentially, a drop-dead date of May 24 [to refinance the liquidity facility], which means we need to complete this a week ahead of time on May 17, and we’ve lost a few weeks already.”
GRU Authority Chair Craig Carter said he intended to speak with the Mayor to see if a Special Meeting could be scheduled before the holidays. Cunningham offered to meet with commissioners, but Carter said he would prefer to call the Mayor and provide any requested information by email.
The Special Meeting will be held at 1:00 p.m. on December 22 in the City Hall Auditorium. The agenda includes only the resolution and member comment.
It looks like the incompetent politicians put more faith in a warning by the city manager, than what the utility authority itself tells them (and their own city attorney too). They don’t deserve a penny from the GRU customers, at least until the GRU debt is ZERO again. The buzzards have come home to roost.
Don’t worry Carter strive to appease his friends on the City Commisison.
Please see my post on 12/10 regarding the playbook. GRU ratepayers are still hostage to the whim of a disgraced cult of personalities that operate as financial jihadists. They will not facilitate the ordinary refinancing of the debt they incurred.
Another self inflicted Crisis Management situation created by non other than the Gainesville Mayor and Commissioner’s Gainesville voters continue to support in spite of a record setting 29 % tax increase. Is that percentage legal? What will they do with the upcoming zero transfer?
If the city delegates this authority to GRU board it screws the city’s credit rating even more…No more city control at all over future revenue streams from GRU to city. This is the city’s sole remaining strong arm.
If the city does not timely and properly delegate its authority then it will just hurt taxpayers and ratepayers by costing GRU more to secure financing due to delays, etc.
Seems like they’re willing to cost us even more money just to p!ss in our face one last time in protest of their recent neutering
Does Saco ever go to meetings?
Or is she still working part-time.
More circle jerking for lawyers.
The “Authority” is illegitimate, given that 4 of the 5 “members” do not meet it’s own simple qualifications for being a member. They can only be removed by our stupid and absent governor – who’s been in Gainesville maybe twice since elected – or a judge. On the other hand, the City Commissioners – unlike Jim Konish who tried and lost by a 4 to 1 vote – were legally elected by the citizens of Gainesville and can be voted out in the next election.
Any questions? I assume that most of you regular posters here are not Americans since you don’t seem to understand how democracy works.
Technically, we live in a Constitutional Republic, not a “democracy”. A lot of otherwise well-informed people seem prone to make that mistake.
“Technically”, a Constitutional Republic is a subset of democracy, which means decisions and leaders are decided by voters. You’re the one making the mistake.
I would hate to see your finances if you think these commissioners are doing a great job with our money. Let’s get back to the basics of what government is
supposed to handle. Not just spending tax money on dreams.
If to much taxes are collected give it back to tax payers.