Gainesville City Commission hears about crime reduction, expresses frustration with paying GRU’s legal fees
BY JENNIFER CABRERA
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At the November 20 Gainesville City Commission meeting, the Gainesville Police Department reported a reduction in crime, and Commissioners expressed frustration that Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) continues to deduct its legal fees from the General Fund Transfer.
License agreement to close part of NW 5th Street
During the afternoon general public comment period, two people objected to the license agreement that was previously granted to Santa Fe College to close part of NW 5th Street between NW 3rd Avenue and NW 5th Avenue. Richard Selwach said the City had granted a license agreement to the college for $40 ($1 per year for 40 years) “on the street that leads to my front door” without notifying him or any of the neighbors. The owner of a restaurant on NW 5th Avenue also objected to closing the street and asked the City Commission to reconsider their decision. At the end of public comment, Mayor Harvey Ward said, “We do not have this on the agenda today, but thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.”
Timeline of meetings for Comprehensive Plan update
Next, the City Commission approved a timeline of meetings to get to an approved Comprehensive Plan update by May 1, 2026. The City Plan Board will discuss chapters 1-5 of the Plan on December 18 and chapters 6-10 on January 22, and that board will hold an adoption hearing on February 2. The City Commission, sitting as the General Policy Committee, will review the latest draft on January 22; the City Commission’s first adoption hearing will be on March 5, and the final adoption reading is scheduled for April 16. Community engagement meetings have not yet been scheduled.
Commissioner Ed Book asked staff to add “Comprehensive Plan” to every document titled “ImagineGNV”, “because no matter what we think it is, people will not know what it is, in the community. They’ll say, ‘What is ImagineGNV?’, and they’ll have a lot of different ideas,… but [they probably won’t think it’s the] Comprehensive Plan.” He emphasized that this was just a suggestion, not a motion.
Ward pointed out that the Florida Legislature “does all its business, from committee weeks to sine die, in about six months… It is possible for us to get this done.”
GPD Quarterly Update
Before presenting the Gainesville Police Department quarterly update, Major Jaime Kurnick introduced new Captains Marquitta Brown and Timothy Durst. She said Brown will be “in charge of downtown, Midtown, and southwest Gainesville, the student areas,” and Durst will “be working all of the northwest, northeast, and some of the southeast neighborhoods.” She said Captain Paris Owens has been reassigned to the Administrative Services Bureau, and Captain Summer Hallett will run the Criminal Investigations Division.
Click here for the GPD Quarterly Update presentation.
Kurnick said there were zero homicides and zero traffic homicides in the city in the third quarter; there was a 19% reduction in rapes, a 33% reduction in robberies, and a 9% increase in aggravated assaults from the same quarter last year. Violent crime overall is down 4.8%, and property crimes are down 18.74%, for an overall reduction of 16.08%. For the 2025 calendar year, there have been three homicides, compared to eight at that point in 2024, a 62.5% reduction. Kurnick also emphasized that there were no reports of shots fired in September.
At the end of the discussion, Ward said, “A thing that leaps out at me is, this year, we have three homicides, and two of them were domestic violence. And so, over the next year or so, I really want to delve into… what we can do to help those numbers go down… I want to work with everybody we can, to help reduce domestic violence in our community, as well as suicides… So those are a couple things you’re gonna hear me talk about more over the next year.”
Frustration over streetlight contract and paying GRU’s legal fees
During Commission Comment, Ward said the GRU Authority had agreed to a General Fund Transfer (also known as the Government Services Contribution) of $8.5 million, but the City only received about $7.1 million. Ward said the shortage was primarily due to a contract that pays $1.13 million per year for County streetlights, added to about $700,000 for the GRU Authority’s legal expenses.
Ward said the streetlight contract was signed about 30 years ago, with GRU paying for the streetlights in return for right-of-way access. The Authority decided that since the City made the agreement, the City should pay for it, so they have deducted that amount from the General Fund Transfer (GFT). Ward tried to get the County to dissolve the agreement during a joint City/County meeting in December 2024, but County Commissioner Ken Cornell said the discussion was “premature” because the issue of GRU governance was still making its way through the courts.
In the November 20 Gainesville City Commission meeting, Ward said, “Now, City of Gainesville taxpayers are paying for [streetlights] in unincorporated Alachua County. I understand how that is a benefit to the utility. I do not understand how that is a benefit to City of Gainesville taxpayers.” He said they needed to “revisit” the contract and “work with the other two signatories, because it doesn’t make sense,… [and] that figure goes up every year… I understand how we got stuck paying the bill. It just needs to get fixed.”
Mayor Harvey Ward: “I do not mean for this to sound offensive, but it feels like a slush fund, because the GRU Authority has sued the City twice, and multiple motions within that – lots of legal action. We didn’t sue them; they sued us, and without a court [ruling] that we had to pay their legal fees, they just decided we were going to pay their legal fees.”
Regarding the legal fees, Ward said that in Fiscal Year 2025, the City paid $313,398 for legal fees “incurred by GRU against the City of Gainesville General Government for lawsuits brought by the GRU Authority against the City of Gainesville General Government… I do not mean for this to sound offensive, but it feels like a slush fund, because the GRU Authority has sued the City twice, and multiple motions within that – lots of legal action. We didn’t sue them; they sued us, and without a court [ruling] that we had to pay their legal fees, they just decided we were going to pay their legal fees… I find it egregious… I don’t know how it’s defensible and how it makes sense.”
City Commissioner Bryan Eastman: “When I look at the last ones, the transparency shows me that they’re just throwing spaghetti at the wall and saying, ‘Pay for this, pay for…’ – it looks like a lobbying firm, to lobby on behalf of them.”
City Commissioner Bryan Eastman said, “I also am concerned about – just simply, this is – I don’t want to use hyperbolic language – fraudulent? Like, these have nothing to do with what the original motion was about.” He added that he was concerned about “the unfairness of it – which, the law was written in such a poor and broad way that, potentially, they have the legal authority to send us ridiculous charges, [now totaling] three quarters of a million dollars [between 2023 and 2025]… When I look at the last ones, the transparency shows me that they’re just throwing spaghetti at the wall and saying, ‘Pay for this, pay for…’ – it looks like a lobbying firm, to lobby on behalf of them… I do think that this is a core responsibility of ours, to protect our taxpayers from erroneous expenditures like this.”
In response to a question from Commissioner Cynthia Chestnut about who authorized the payments for legal fees, Commissioner Casey Willits, who is the Chair of the Finance Committee, explained that GRU deducts the expenses from the GFT.
City Manager Andrew Persons: “The City doesn’t have a whole lot of recourse for [the funds being deducted by GRU]… [A]t the end of the day, if they’re not going to provide it, they’re not going to provide it.”
Chestnut asked why the City couldn’t deduct the legal expenses from the money they pay GRU for IT services, and City Manager Andrew Persons said, “That would not be my recommendation… We receive a service, in terms of GRU, that… the City is very dependent on, and so crossing the streams in that way would be potentially problematic… The City doesn’t have a whole lot of recourse for [the funds being deducted by GRU].” He said the City could write a letter to the Authority, asking for more transparency, “but at the end of the day, if they’re not going to provide it, they’re not going to provide it.”
Ward said, “I think what I heard from you… was, if we don’t pay them, they may not provide the service.”
Chestnut said the City should send a letter saying they don’t agree with deducting the legal fees from the GFT: “If we haven’t voiced the concern, they think that we enjoy paying it.”
Commissioner James Ingle: “I don’t think we’ll accomplish anything with having a joint meeting and explaining to them why it’s morally wrong to do what they’re doing… It’s just this clown show of how to run the utility. It’s terrible.”
Commissioner James Ingle said, “Everybody’s frustrated with the entire situation, because… the people of the city of Gainesville are being robbed. They just are.” He said GRU can reduce the GFT without needing to justify it: “They don’t have to ask anybody… They don’t have to face the ratepayers or the taxpayers or the citizens of Gainesville… They’re appointed by the Governor. They have no local accountability at all… I don’t think they care about the letter. I don’t think we’ll accomplish anything with having a joint meeting and explaining to them why it’s morally wrong to do what they’re doing… It’s just this clown show of how to run the utility. It’s terrible.”
Ward responded, “Thank you, Commissioner Ingle, I’m sorry you don’t have stronger opinions about this.”
City Commissioner Casey Willits: “Maybe we should ask the Governor to appoint someone with audit experience [to the vacant seat on the Authority],… CPA kind of experience, someone who can impress upon them the importance of auditing all portions of their operation.”
Willits said he would support a motion to send a letter asking for the 2025 legal invoices backing the amount GRU is deducting from the GFT and a request that the invoices be audited to “confirm that it is about a lawsuit, not about merely anything they chose to do with legal representation… Maybe we should ask the Governor to appoint someone with audit experience [to the vacant seat on the Authority],… CPA kind of experience, someone who can impress upon them the importance of auditing all portions of their operation.”
Eastman said his first reaction with the GRU Authority is “to go tit-for-tat with various things, and from what you said about just withholding money that’s been paid, that is what they chose to do to us, right? And they are still doing that. They’re paying a fraction of what all of our staff has said is the cost of doing the services that are required… But… at some point, we have to decide that we are going to run our shop like a business and be more professional.”
City Commissioner Bryan Eastman: “I could ask our City Manager to spend all this time on Facebook talking about things, but… I believe in focusing on the outcomes and being transparent and being efficient and not politicizing government to the extent of what I am seeing across the street.”
Eastman continued, “I could ask our City Manager to spend all this time on Facebook talking about things, but… I believe in focusing on the outcomes and being transparent and being efficient and not politicizing government to the extent of what I am seeing across the street. And so it means that sometimes you’re unilaterally disarming, and I think that might be where we are right now.”
Eastman made a motion to direct the Mayor to send a letter to the GRU Authority, requesting “full transparency for all legal and related expenses billed to the City for FY23, FY24, and FY25, including itemized invoices, travel charges, consulting fees, and meeting preparation costs. The letter should also request an explanation for why these expenses are being charged to Gainesville taxpayers beyond the millions already taken and the reason the Authority believes these costs should be passed to the City taxpayers, along with a review of whether these expenses are truly related to the original motion about defending HB 1645. And that legal fees are no longer charged to the City of Gainesville.”
Motion
After Commissioner Ed Book said he thought the motion should be “as factual and devoid of emotion as possible,” the motion was re-worded to, “The City Commission directs the Mayor to send a letter to the GRU Authority, requesting full transparency for all legal and related expenses billed to the City for FY23, FY24, and FY25, including itemized invoices, travel charges, consulting fees, and meeting preparation costs. The letter should also request an explanation for why these expenses are being charged to Gainesville taxpayers, along with a review of whether these expenses are related to the original motion about defending HB 1645. And that legal fees are no longer charged to the City of Gainesville.”
Ingle said he would agree with the changes “if I felt like we were dealing with another governmental body and negotiating in good faith… As it is, I think this motion will be as much about advocacy for the people of Gainesville as it is about actually asking the Authority for any actual cooperation.”
Ward said he hadn’t been aware of the total amount of the deductions until he read the City Manager’s report: “It’s just kind of bizarre, so I’m glad that we’re of a like mind.”
The motion passed 6-0, with Commissioner Desmon Duncan-Walker absent.
Mayor Ward’s letter
Ward sent a letter to GRU Authority Chair Eric Lawson on November 21, stating that the City Commission had unanimously directed him to request full transparency on the legal expenses and an explanation for why the expenses are being charged to Gainesville taxpayers, “and to advise you that legal and other related fees of this sort should no longer be billed to the City of Gainesville General Government or subtracted from the GSC. I’m certain you can understand why these fees… are not properly the responsibility of the City’s General Government functions.”
Click here to read Mayor Ward’s letter to the GRU Authority.
GRU CEO’s response
On November 21, GRU CEO Ed Bielarski posted the following message on Facebook: “What the mayor and city commission don’t seem to understand is that GRU reduces the city payment by the AMOUNT of its legal bills because that money is no longer in our possession. We can’t pay the city what we don’t have.”
On November 25, Bielarski posted, “Mayor Ward is on the record saying that the Authority is suing the city and making them pay for it, declaring it not a common business practice. You know what’s crazy – trying to dissolve an Authority created by legislative act by municipal election. Oh, what’s equally crazy is that the Mayor thinks we can pay an $8 million transfer while our profit is reduced by the expenses of fighting their unlawful acts. Talk about crazy…”
I ImagineGNV being much more financially stable once this group of fiscally incompetent idiots are replaced.
Let’s revisit this later – prepping for Thanksgiving. Hope everyone has a safe and happy one.
The CoG under Ward has unilaterally increased taxes and fees to ridiculous levels. Ward should get a CPA type to run down the waste on idiotic ideas on his watch. Like: Endless $ wasted on studies to build out city owned free internet for citizens, annual city inspections of all rentals, food leftover collections, on and on. Start first answering the FL DOGE letter describing your: “annual burdens on property owners by over $30 million dollars in additional
ad valorem tax collections – an increase of over 80%…!” You have a spending problem, not a revenue problem. Ward and anyone with similar thinking should be thrown out immediately, not wait to be voted out.
BTW, Ward, GRU is in much safer hands without you in the mix! Please resign ASAP before the Governor takes over to save the citizens from bankruptcy.
Carlos. How do feel about unidentified GRU SLA losses on IT and dozens of other items?
To tell you the truth Jim, I’m not up to speed on it. But I’ve been aware of the City’s absurd wasteful spending on dumb radical ideas since 2015!
Corrupt democrats.
Yeah we get it you hate America hate Florida and you definitely hate Gainesville
Damn sure don’t have to use for Gainesville and ripped off GRU they used to run I was stuck in the county as one of the 40% who don’t have a say so so I moved
Very good news on crime reduction, especially violent.
Paying the county’s streetlight bill was a deal in the past for GRU “right-of-way access” – how that is not an operational expense for GRU to be carried by all GRU users – not just city users – makes no sense.
Then GRU’s billing city taxpayers for suing them – and without a court order – is as nonsensical Belarski’s lame excuse that they just don’t have any money left. As if that’s true and as if they would if they did – BS artist making a third of a million a year.
I think this sums it up:
“Commissioner James Ingle said, “Everybody’s frustrated with the entire situation, because… the people of the city of Gainesville are being robbed. They just are.” He said GRU can reduce the GFT without needing to justify it: “They don’t have to ask anybody… They don’t have to face the ratepayers or the taxpayers or the citizens of Gainesville… They’re appointed by the Governor. They have no local accountability at all… I don’t think they care about the letter. I don’t think we’ll accomplish anything with having a joint meeting and explaining to them why it’s morally wrong to do what they’re doing… It’s just this clown show of how to run the utility. It’s terrible.”
I wish I could understand how your mind works. You seem to be unwilling to think anyway other than your own. You’ll never learn anything that way.
That’s not a cogent argument David while mine was reasoned. Surely you can do better.
Any of you thumbs down people want to take up David’s argument? The cat apparently has his tongue.
Sorry for the delay. I have no argument. That was a statement. I it appears that you are disturbed or like to stir the put possibly because you’re disturbed.
David, I like to debate the issues using facts and reason. You apparently prefer personal insults
No insult intended. I have seen you debate. Your point of view in my view is that of a disturbed person. You say you want to debate different points of view but you seem shocked that people have different points of view.
I welcome a reasoned debate, so let’s try. What did I say that you disagree with, wnd why?
Jazz, you are the KING of personal insults on this platform and the others you “contribute” to. Always bashing the President and the Governor and Republicans in general. The only place you can be happy is in this dysfunctional red state nightmare called Gainesville. Just to clarify what others think of Florida, go here:
https://www.foxbusiness.com/media/inside-floridas-next-chapter-ceos-predict-massive-expansion-wealth-surges-state.
The tide may be rising in Gainesville.
Debate that!
Why gloss over crime rates going down? Ward still wants “domestic violence” to disappear, but that’s personal and not much a govt can do on that (except booting more illegals to lower the cost of living).
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸MAGA🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
“..gloss over crime rates going down?” Say what?
Yeah, and a curse on Ward for wanting domestic violence to disappear – what a monster!
Ward should add to his personal domestic privacy moralizing wish list then. Why stop at domestic violence?
If it’s any consolation, it’s not like the residents of Gainesville aren’t accustomed to being robbed.
I think it says a lot when one thief accuses another.
Please explain to me how is the 40% of the customers living in the county responsible for the damn street lights in Gainesville
Yeah G, except it’s city residents paying for county lights:
“the shortage was primarily due to a contract that pays $1.13 million per year for County streetlights,”
So far 2 thumbs down on the facts. Are these bots?
Let me put it this way – this seems to be two sides looking at the adjustment to the GSC/GFT differently. The CoG insists it is paying for streetlights/legal fees because the budgeted GSC/GFT is reduced. GRU’s view is that it would be the same in the long run – if they absorb the cost of streetlights/legal fees, they will go overbudget in those areas resulting in lower “net profit” (not the best term in my opinion, but it works for this explanation). With less “net profit”, they would have less ability to pay the full budgeted GSC/GFT. It would result in the same result in the long run. Just depends on where you want the accounting to reflect the costs to GRU (expense for streetlights/legal fees and reduced “net profit” available for GSC/GFT – or same “net profit” and reduce GSC/GFT).
By the way, the City is legally responsible for the cost of the streetlights – if the whole GSC/GFT were to be transferred (sans legal fees), the City would still have to pay that bill effectively reducing the amount available for other spending.
Hey City Commies, how does it feel? When You had your hands in the GRU cookie jar, the electric customers, were always getting fleeced! The Shoe is on the other foot now!😳
The arrogance in Ward’s response on the 5th Avenue issue is jaw-dropping.
He desperately wants to sweep this under the rug but it’s looking like this may turn out to be a prime example of the Streisand effect.
Apparently they previously approved it as a consent agenda item. Very greasy of them…
“A consent agenda is a tool used in meetings to group routine and non-controversial items into one agenda item, allowing them to be approved with a single motion. This helps streamline the meeting process and saves time by reducing the need for individual discussions on each item.”
Why not pass a law making lawyers free?
This is rich…and am not talking about Thanksgiving food!
Let’s get this straight and not be beholden to what the City Commission says. First off, the agreement for the County streetlights was signed off on by Tony Cunningham and the recently resigned City Manager. It was an extension to the older agreement. The agreement said that the City would pay for the streetlights and GRUA is simply holding them to their agreement, just as the County is. Case closed!
Secondly, the City Commission voted to fight HB1645 and take control of GRU back and leave 40% of GRU customers without a voice (and NO, no one wants to be annexed into the City with their record of spending and gouging taxpayers). Besides, since when does a city get to override a state or federal law?
GRUA did not want to place the burden of attorney’s fees on the backs of ratepayers as it was not of their doing. This has been stated over and over again in meetings and interviews. If the City would have waited on the referendum, then they wouldn’t have wasted taxpayer money on the election and hiring their own outside counsel in Tampa to attempt to continue their money grab (something the City Commission does not talk about or make transparent).
It is concerning that elected officials at City Hall call GRUA members and their decisions immoral. I would counter that they are the immoral ones by ruining our small town ethos. How you ask….continuously increasing property taxes, special assessments and other costs to citizens. They also have brought more crime to our area (despite the statistics for a quarter of the year, which you can skew to tell whatever story you wish) through low barrier homeless programs that invite a criminal element. Just look at how many out of town homeless people are arrested…it isn’t a coincidence. Another is changing zoning in a ‘Preserve’ to build buildings that are nothing but a convenience for staff. This is without mentioning that they build buildings that are taller than reasonable to save lives in an emergency (yes, GFR and ACFR can reach top floors with a ladder, but that only brings one person down at a time and could cause future deaths in a tragic situation). I could go on and on…..like lack of building and road maintenance…..and….
It is funny that commissioners are now using the same language GRUA and the public has used to describe their spending and priorities. It will be interesting to see what the commission cries about next, especially since property tax reform is coming next year. They better all tighten their belts as it will be way more that $700,000 and some streetlight bills that will be removed from their budget! But more likely they will kick the can down the road for future commissions to deal with as they are prone to do.
I appreciate only one commissioner on the dias currently, Ed Book. He tends to ask the right questions, seems to be more fiscally responsible compared to the rest and is civil. Find it funny that Eastman calls out Ed B on his social media use, when he is the king of false Tiktok videos and attacking social media posts. I hope voters remember this next year when a bunch of the commissioners are up for reelection.
On this special day, I am thankful for GRUA, friends, family and our health this year! I wish you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving! I
1. If the county lights agreement is about “right of way access”, how is that not an operational expense of GRU that should be born by all GRU customers? By billing the city – without the city having the benefit of it’s profits from it’s property – you are saying county residents ride for free and only city residents hsould pay it.
2. The courts have not thrown out the city’s right to challenge HB1645 through an election, so your question has been answered. We not only live in a democracy but government of laws and rights, and the citizens of Gainesville have rights regarding it’s property – GRU.
3. GRU is placing the “burden” of lawyer fees on the GRU customers in the city, but not the county. Do the math.
4. Since you think it is OK to seize property (GRU) from it’s owners (the citizens of Gainesville) and deny them the right through free and democratic means – elections – to choose it’s leaders, but instead think politicians who couldn’t get elected dog catcher in Gainesville get to choose the leaders – and sloppily I might add – I think you are immoral.
5. “Tax reform” is another euphemism for the state usurping local control, a habit they have been practicing in unprecedented fashion over the last 4-6 years. If yu like that, you’re a statist.
Happy Thanksgiving
Jazz…are you, personally, actually pro property tax and against property tax reform or are you just simping for the city & county coffers?
Also, you inverted the meaning of statist…removing a tax is the antithesis of statism. Stopping a forced tax on an asset one already owns is laissez-faire, not statism. Don’t call others what you are!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Slice, property taxes are local taxes, not state so this is the state undercutting local government funding. Of course that is “statist”.
As to property taxes, I am for “reform”, depending on what “reform” means, and since we need taxes to fund government, including roads, cops, etc., yes I am for property taxes. Sales taxes are proven regressive, especially since services are exempt, and property taxes progressive. Sales taxes are also heavily alotted to the state, so it’s power grows while local government power shrinks.
Statism refers to overly controlling local, state, federal, and/or global governments. The “state” part of statism refers to government in a general sense, not the actual state within the republic. But you know this.
Our local government is levying high property taxes to fund its own weird operations and continual growth. They think they know better than us…this is classic statism. The State of Florida is proposing to reduce or remove this government (or ‘state’) tax from our lives. This is removing government (ie state) from us, not imposing more state (ie government) controls. When something is proposed that will shrink government and taxes it is literally in direct contradiction to statism.
Slice, since government requires taxes for funding and since we live in a democracy, local government most accurately reflects the will of the people and therefore more control over government. Placing that power higher up results in things like the GRU takeover by state level politicians who could never win an election locally. The power of the state Trump’s the power of voters.
PS Remember, the issues can change over time, and which side we may be on, but who has the power is structural.
That’s rich coming from a globalist!
Slice, one can logically prefer voting close to home while acknowledging the necessity of coordinating and cooperating with other humans in a shrinking world. Evolution shows we succeed because of cooperation more than competition.
Domestic Violence will not disappear in Alachua County. With the international students and family, as well as illegal immigrants they have their own laws and family values. How many cases over the years of a spouse or other wanting to become more like an Aneruxan only to have a spouse or other commit violence to keep their spouse in line with their country’s ways. Don’t forget the locals who have been bred to commit domestic violence as a family tradition. And finally the group of low morality people that cheat on spouses, etc. And then that spouse needs to fight back. As long as there are domestic relationships where people can not handle problems by talking then you will certainly have violence.
Not to mention fights that start while one or both are intoxicated…
“In response to a question from Commissioner Cynthia Chestnut about who authorized the payments for legal fees, Commissioner Casey Willits, who is the Chair of the Finance Committee, explained that GRU deducts the expenses from the GFT”…..
I’m not sure which is more dismaying.
That Willits is the Chair of the Finance Committee by experience or that he has to inform Chestnut of the current events.
Even the forumites here know that there aren’t “authorized payments”, but are monies being withheld due to the legal entanglement.
Did her personal assistant not get her up to speed on the current state of despairs?
We could only wish what the city manager would have recommended non-payment for IT services.
Then the GFT would drop a few more $M while the court docket line items swell.
The lawsuits would extend GRuA until the next election cycle where they could renew their daliance on the dais.
Chestnut is absent in mind while Double D Walker can’t be bothered to attend class regularly.
Group:
“Well I think we should all send over a strongly worded letter to tell him what’s on our mind”….
“Do you agree?
Oh certainly , most certainly.
You write it… no you…. no not like that…… madder!
but not too mad… yes exactly”
Which is the clown show “i need more fedora” Ingle?
Indeed.
GRU legal fees should be fully reimbursed. Waiting 119 days to challenge a bogus referendum is a driver behind these fees. There are millions more in GRU reimbursements that are not being made (SLA Losses)