GRU Authority hears updates on lawsuits, responds to public comments

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At the July 9 GRU Authority meeting, the board heard updates on GRU operations and the status of several lawsuits; CEO Ed Bielarski also responded to criticisms raised during public comment.

Responses to public comments

In response to a public comment from Chuck Ross about the IRP (Integrated Resource Plan) not being finished and three plants nearing the end of their service life, GRU CEO Ed Bielarski said, “I’ll just reiterate that the IRP was finished. It’s a document that’s out there, and we’re following it. We’re working towards the real-life actions that are necessary to follow the plan. The IRP is a plan… The idea that 110 megawatts will just miraculously come offline just isn’t the case… [Our staff keeps] these units running efficiently and effectively… These plants have almost been replaced from top to finish… They’re man’s creation, and they can be renewed through man’s innovation, and that’s what we’re doing.”

In response to a public comment from Jim Konish alleging financial irregularities (see his letter to the editor here), Director Jack Jacobs said, “All our books and everything are looked at by many eyes, including auditors and persons – SEC, banks, investors… I get it, you don’t like the way that some of the accounting is done, or you don’t think it’s done the way you would do it, but it is what it is right now. That’s the way the books are done. If you… think there’s some law being broken, then… take that to the appropriate law enforcement agency.”

Responding to Ross’s comment about spending money on lawsuits, Jacobs said, “If this was still under the City Commission, they’d still be taking millions of dollars,… and when something breaks, then the whole system would implode. Now we’re in a safe place, as reflected by our bond ratings and liquidity, where we can handle contingencies that come up.”

CEO comments

Bielarski announced that Moody’s affirmed a stable outlook for GRU and added, “They said there’s several ways in which we could be downgraded, and they all relate, really, to the debt,… and the one I want to note is, it also said that what can lead to a downgrade is more aggressive demands for transfers to the City’s General Fund. I mean, that’s part of what the new referendum that was voted upon by the City Commission explicitly does: it says that they will take the cap off the General Fund Transfer, the current limitation. So that’s in direct violation of what Moody’s is saying would lead to a downgrade… Fitch [also said] they liked the plan that the board is bringing to the table.”

Responding to Konish’s comment about GRU’s disconnection rates, Bielarski showed a chart with disconnection rates for other municipal utilities; he said JEA and Tallahassee did not respond with their data in time to be included. GRU’s disconnection rate of 2.3% this year is the same as Orlando’s and falls between Lakeland, at 1.19%, and Kissimmee, at 2.8%. 

Bielarski said GRU had 3,166 disconnects in June but 2,800 reconnects, and some of those people may have moved out and “left bills behind, [leaving GRU] with bad debt that everyone else has to pay. So we’re doing the proper thing. We’re doing it within best practices.”

Bielarski said the new Chief Customer Officer is looking at a list of customers who have a high ratio of energy usage to square footage, and someone is “actually driving out to different houses” to see how GRU can help with their energy usage.

GRU Review

During the GRU Review agenda item, Bielarski said the vacancy rate for staff positions at GRU has dropped from 13% in May 2022 to about 8% in May 2025; in between, the rates dropped near 8% but went up to 11% in August 2024 before coming back down. Bielarski said the organization is “seeing the fruits of bringing over an HR department that’s focused solely on our organization.”

Bielarski said that despite filling the vacancies, GRU is still under budget because the number of positions was reduced from about 940 in May 2022 to 879 in late 2024; some of those positions were meter readers, who are no longer needed with the new AMI meters.

$11 million award to Jacob Rodgers

Bielarski addressed the legislature’s award of $11 million to Jacob Rodgers, who was T-boned by a GRU employee and partially paralyzed; he said GRU has already paid the settlement out of electric fund reserves and said that could “be a consideration as we go through the rest of the year, to see where those monies fall out and what we have to do as a mitigating circumstance for that.”

Bielarski said the Kelly plant had “a rough June,” with several outages, but the issues are solved, and “next week, we’re going to be heading into some clear sailing with Kelly.”

Bielarski said the LEEP program has hit a milestone of spending $10 million to retrofit 2,500 homes to make them more energy-efficient.

Status of lawsuits

Regarding pending lawsuits, Bielarski said GRU is appealing Judge George Wright’s decision in their lawsuit about the City’s 2024 ballot referendum; the City made a motion to expedite the appeal, and GRU is opposed to that. GRU also filed an emergency motion to stay Judge Wright’s order, and the City has filed a response opposing that motion.

The Petition for Writ of Quo Warranto filed by Jason Fults and Bobby Mermer was voluntarily dismissed in early July, and GRU will be filing a lawsuit soon (authorized at the July 11 meeting) to challenge the City’s 2025 ballot referendum. Bielarski concluded, “We’re doing this because House Bill 1645 is the law – it’s the law – and it was voted upon by elected officials at the state legislature and signed by the Governor. And we’re here until told otherwise to protect House Bill 1645, and,… as the rating agencies have shown, as the bills have shown, and our performance is showing, this is a good thing for the community, our customers, and everyone involved. So we’re going to continue to fight.”

Director Jacobs: “[The] City Commission… [has] no plan for a budget. Their plan is to take back GRU and raid the piggy bank.”

Jacobs said it was “disappointing to see the latest City Commission meeting because they have no plan for a budget. Their plan is to take back GRU and raid the piggy bank. They utterly had no solutions on how to budget for anything other than raiding the piggy bank again.”

Bielarski said, “Let’s face it: GRU is paying the City less money, but it’s not like they have less money. They’ve made it up with property taxes and very, very little expenditure cuts.”

Authority Attorney Kiersten Ballou said, “The appeal of Judge Wright’s order for the 1st DCA, that’s really our substantive issue… We really think on Count I, the law is on our side, and we’d like for the 1st DCA to take a look at that specific issue.” Count I held that the City’s ballot referendum was inconsistent with the statute that created the Authority; Judge Wright ruled in favor of the City on that count.

Attorney Ballou on expediting the appeal of Judge Wright’s order: “You can do it right or you can do it fast, but you can’t have both… This is really a problem of the City’s own creation, and an emergency created by them is not an emergency for us.”

Ballou said the City wanted to expedite the appeal because they have scheduled another referendum for November 2025, “and our argument is, essentially, you can do it right or you can do it fast, but you can’t have both, and we prefer to do it correctly and allow the 1st DCA to really look into these issues so that we’re not constantly in a state of flux and everyone’s arguing forevermore.” She said the Authority’s response to the City’s motion to expedite the appeal argued that “this is really a problem of the City’s own creation, and an emergency created by them is not an emergency for us.”

Regarding the motion for a stay before Judge Wright, Ballou said, “When we filed our Notice of Appeal on June 4, our position is, under the rules, we are granted an automatic stay. Essentially, what that means is, there’s a provision in the appellate rules that say if a governmental agency appeals a decision of a court, there’s an automatic stay that is in place until the appeal is resolved.” She said the stay would prohibit the City from moving forward with the November 2025 ballot referendum. 

Ballou said that in the Fults/Mermer case, GRU argued that because the City already litigated the same issue on behalf of its citizens, individuals cannot re-litigate it. She said the plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit after receiving the case law sent by GRU.

Free energy audits

During Director Comments, Director Chip Skinner encouraged people to get free energy audits from GRU if they think their bills are too high; he said low-income customers can apply to get new energy-efficient air conditioners and water heaters through the LEEP program.