GRU Authority approves Bielarski’s contract, sends letter to Attorney General, discusses lawsuit to oppose GRU ballot referendum

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At the August 7 GRU Authority meeting, the board approved a contract for CEO Ed Bielarski, heard an update about the financial condition of the utility, voted to send a letter to the Attorney General asking whether HB1645 can be reversed by a charter amendment ballot referendum, and discussed filing a lawsuit to stop the ballot referendum.

Details of the contract

The contract, which was negotiated between Authority Chair Eric Lawson and Bielarski, has a starting date of June 13, the day after he resigned from the GRU Authority. Bielarski will be paid $332,061 per year, and he received 104 hours of paid time off at the time of his hiring. Starting with the fifth pay period, he will accrue an additional 10 hours and 47 minutes of paid time off each pay period, and he will be compensated for unused paid time off if he leaves GRU. Bielarski is required to get a physical exam, and he will have a $250,000 life insurance policy. He is required to give two months’ notice if he resigns, and there is no obligation for severance pay if he is fired by the Authority for cause. If he is fired under any other circumstances, including the dissolution of the Authority, he is entitled to 20 weeks of salary as severance pay. 

Members of the public objected to approving the contract on the consent agenda

During public comment on the adoption of the agenda, Chuck Ross objected to the 20 weeks of severance and 104 hours of initial paid time off, and Bobby Mermer said the contract was “a deviation from where the utility has been heading over the past few months – belt-tightening is required of almost every owner of this utility, yet we see an obscene expansion in the General Manager’s salary.”

Roberta Gastmeyer said, “The word of the week is ‘weird,’ and I find it weird that once again, you’re voting to perhaps spend ratepayer money to provide an unvetted insider with a sweetheart deal.” Susan Bottcher said it is “standard operating procedure for [contracts like this] to be very publicly discussed and vetted.” Tyler Foerst said the contract was a “disgrace… All you’ve done is spend like drunken sailors… Now you’re going to make the former GM, who just lost his race for Mayor… the highest-paid employee in Gainesville history.” Bielarski ran for Mayor in 2022 and lost to current Mayor Harvey Ward.

Kim Popejoy asked the board members to resign to “save your personal reputations.” Mike Murtha, who works for House Speaker Pro Tem Chuck Clemons, said, “Ed Bielarski has been spectacular. He has been an institutional resource that is unmatched… On behalf of Speaker Pro Tem Clemons,… we thank you for your judgment in picking such an outstanding General Manager.”

After public comment, Member Craig Carter said, “Just for clarification, Mr. Bielarski was vetted. I was actually on the [Gainesville City] Commission when we hired him. We did a national search… He served [GRU] well… I know he’s been referred to as a politician; no disrespect, but that’s the last thing he is. He ran for Mayor to try to help the City.”

Carter continued, “The contract is $23,000 [higher than Tony Cunningham was paid].” Carter said his conversations with Bielarski have been about how to retain employees, “not ‘how do we retain our executives’.” Carter said he had no problem pulling the contract off the consent agenda.

Member Chip Skinner said he was also working for the City when Bielarski was hired, “and he was fully vetted at that point in time.” He also said he had no problem pulling the contract off the consent agenda, “but I am confident in our choice from the previous meetings.”

Member David Haslam said, “To act like Ed’s new to this is ridiculous… I don’t see the need to waste time.” He said he thought Lawson had done a good job negotiating the contract, “and I think we could just move forward with it.”

Authority Attorney Scott Walker said it would be better to give the public a chance to speak on the issue, so he recommended pulling it from the consent agenda. Carter made a motion to approve the agenda with that item pulled from the consent agenda, and Skinner seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. 

Lawson explains how he arrived at Bielarski’s salary

During Chair Comments, Lawson said the Human Resources Department gave him an executive salary survey that was performed for the City of Gainesville in 2019. He said the median salary for a CEO of a medium-sized utility was $343,000, the upper value was over $400,000, and the lower end was $260,000. He said he also took Bielarski’s previous salary and “rolled that forward using a 3% inflation factor, and that’s how we ended up with $332,000.” He said that is within 3% of the median for medium-sized utilities across the United States. 

Lawson added, “Mr. Bielarski is a proven utilities expert. He proved himself, and he was here before. He is a known figure… I believe that Mr. Bielarski would provide the most stable environment rather than going out for a national search.” He said that in his experience, using an agency to conduct a national search would cost 50% to 100% of the expected salary for the position, “so I believe that this was the most fiscally responsible process for establishing what I felt like was a fair salary.”

Public comment on the contract agenda item

When the board took up the agenda item for Bielarski’s contract, Lawson said he’d already made his comments, so Carter made a motion to accept the contract, and Haslam seconded the motion. 

During public comment on the motion, Jim Konish said he was troubled that Bielarski is taking a vacation “while we’re in a situation where we may not even know if the Authority has any legal validity, and if you get into that space, anything could happen.”

Bobby Mermer said the Alachua County Labor Coalition urged the board to vote against the contract. He said, “We’ve gotten well over 100 emails, and several of those addresses, mind you, are outside city limits… One of the things that this Authority loves to brag about is representing the interests of ratepayers outside the city limits… We have been told that the utility needs to tighten its belt, that the City needs to tighten its belt, but this contract tells the ratepayers inside and outside the city that austerity is only necessary if your name is not Ed Bielarski. If your name is Ed Bielarski, the rules do not apply to you.” He recommended reducing the salary, making Bielarski the interim CEO, removing his severance pay if the Authority is abolished in November, and using the savings to reduce GRU rates.

Chuck Ross objected to the initial 104 hours of paid time off and 20 weeks of severance pay. He suggested putting Bielarski “on probation like you would normally do, even though he’s… obviously not a new employee to GRU – he’s coming back.” He said the 20 weeks of severance pay if the Authority is dissolved would “substantially benefit” Bielarski, “and maybe that’s why these things were put in there – to benefit him somehow. It’s completely unfair.” He suggested paying him $1 a year.

Roberta Gastmeyer said, “One dollar, at least through November, sounds really good. Wait until November, see what happens after that time, and renegotiate.”

Tyler Foerst said he hoped every GRU employee would ask the Authority for a raise “every time they see you.” He said it was unethical to pay Bielarski under the contract before voting on it. He continued, “The true purpose of this board is finally becoming clear… which is for Ed and Chuck Clemons to rip off the City of Gainesville on their way out of office, and you’re going to be complicit in that if you vote for this. And again, I promise you, you have to live here after this.”

Susan Bottcher recommended tabling the contract until after the November vote on a referendum to return control of GRU to the City Commission. Jeffrey Shapiro also recommended that board members “rest on your laurels for a while and wait [until] things shake down.”

Board discussion of the contract

After public comment, Carter said he didn’t want to wait until November “because, quite frankly, I don’t think that’s a valid thing to do… I have full confidence in Mr. Bielarski… The person I trusted when I hired him, back when I was a City Commissioner, is the man I still trust… I’m ready to move forward in this contract.”

Haslam said he was also ready to move forward: “I love hearing the comments… I definitely hear your opinions. Not a big fan of being bullied… You guys talk about Ed being abusive – that’s all everyone in this room has done tonight, just abusive. And you’re taking your own information and… you’re putting your own spin onto it, much like you claim Ed does, and it’s just kind of a waste of time, to be honest… So in my opinion, we should just go ahead and vote on it.”

Haslam said he liked the contract, but “we could address some other things… I mean, I’m interested in maybe readjusting the [General Fund Transfer] again and maybe abolishing it altogether. And instead of transferring funds to the City, we transfer it back to every individual person, and then they can do whatever they like with those funds.”

Skinner said, “When we’re talking about a $23,000 differential between Mr. Bielarski and Mr. Cunningham, and then these emails that we get, saying that money should be going to the ratepayers to lower the rates – well, $23,000 is not going to lower anyone. You’re not going to notice that on your bill whatsoever.”

Skinner said it’s typical to include paid time off “from the get-go” in executive contracts and added that Bielarski “understands the issues, he understands the public, and he is still reporting to the board. We are still his bosses.” He added that he has “an issue with organizations putting out an email and people just cut, copy, and paste it.” He said less than 10% of the emails he’d received “put their own thought” into the message, “and then you claim that it’s the community. I don’t see a huge community outcry over this.”

Authority Attorney Kiersten Ballou said, “I want to reiterate to the whole board that our office did review this contract several times and have no concerns regarding [the issues raised by the public].”

The motion to approve the contract passed unanimously. 

CEO Comments

During CEO Comments, Bielarski said it was ironic that the union representatives were complaining about his contract when “in my short tenure, we’re looking at a savings this year of somewhere just under $4 million that we can isolate for some of the folks that are underpaid… That’s been part of the goal.”

Financial update

In a financial update presentation, Director of Accounting & Finance Mark Benton pointed out that the utility is running a surplus this year, while it ran deficits at this point in 2022 and 2023. He said the surplus is driven primarily by the significant GFT reduction, and the surplus is going toward reducing GRU’s debt. 

Bielarski added, “If there’s anyone out there that thinks that the GFT has very little to do with the health of the utility, all they need to do is look at the… very bottom right corner… GRU went from operating at a deficit to operating at a surplus. And what did that do for us? It allowed us to move forward with keeping rates where they were.” 

Letter to the Attorney General

The board also discussed a proposed letter to Attorney General Ashley Moody, asking whether a Special Act of the Legislature (i.e., HB1645) can be repealed by a City Charter amendment that will only be voted on by city residents and whether the Authority is authorized to hire an independent attorney for all Authority operations.

Bielarski emphasized that there is no guarantee that the Attorney General will provide an opinion: “They’re not obligated by any law to do this, but I don’t think that should stop us from asking the question one way or the other.”

Carter made a motion to send the letter and authorize the Chair to sign it, and Haslam seconded the motion.

Discussion about a lawsuit to stop the referendum

After public comment, Carter asked Walker whether the board has any avenue for stopping the November referendum that will all city residents whether they want to dissolve the Authority and return control of the utility to the City Commission. 

Walker said they could “file an action, potentially, and probably be found in declaratory relief, requesting that this measure be deemed improper.” He said his office had found a case in Orlando where a similar referendum was found to be “advisory with respect to the City of Orlando… and not binding on the [utility board].”

Carter said he supported moving forward with that “because we were put in this position to represent the ratepayers… I don’t think that we’re doing our job if we don’t attack this with a lot of energy… I would like to explore all options to circumvent this.”

Walker said his firm was already engaged in that process, at the direction of Bielarski, and Lawson said he agreed that they needed to “go down every road.” Walker said he could bring back information on the grounds for such a lawsuit, and the board would need to approve filing the lawsuit. Carter said he didn’t want to wait a month until the next scheduled meeting: “I’d be willing to drive here to make that vote.” Bielarski said he would put together a special meeting just for that topic. 

The board voted unanimously to send the letter to the Attorney General.