GRU Authority votes to appeal ruling on City’s referendum to regain control of the utility

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Near the beginning of their April 3 meeting, the GRU Authority voted unanimously to appeal yesterday’s ruling that the City has the right to disband the Authority with a ballot referendum; the judge also nullified the City of Gainesville’s ballot referendum to regain control of the utility, meaning that both the City and the utility are unhappy with parts of the ruling.

Read about today’s City Commission’s discussion here.

During Chair Comments, Chair Eric Lawson said, “Unfortunately, yesterday we did not receive the ruling that we had hoped for… Over the last year, I’m incredibly proud of the work that GRU administration and leadership have conducted with the approval of the board. When I think back at the accomplishments in a very short time, we have reduced the base rate of our electricity rates for 60% of our customers. We have signed purchase agreements that will reduce our gas costs, which will be passed directly to our customers in the coming years. We have accelerated our debt reduction plan that will potentially, in the long run, result in an upgrade of our bond rating. Any upgrade in our bond rating will result in over $60 million in savings to the utility in just a short time. The administration, with the support of the board, have really done some tremendous things to support our utility. And I hope, no matter what happens, that these decisions will stand.”

Lawson continued, “I’m proud to serve on this committee… It is my belief that we were appointed by the Governor and that we are here under House Bill 1645, and it is our responsibility to continue to advocate for this bill and advocate for this Authority. And so I would recommend to my fellow board members that we authorize our CEO to continue to file an appeal and continue to support our Authority.”

Director Craig Carter made a motion to “authorize the General Manager/CEO to file an appeal and whatever it means to go forward with that.” Vice Chair David Haslam seconded the motion.

Director Chip Skinner said he had spoken to City staff, and “there is a will to sit down and meet with us to see if there is a common ground that we could resolve this, but I am also in favor of us continuing to move forward with our legal options.” He suggested that the CEO and a board member “go meet with the City Manager and a couple representatives from [the City] and see if we can work our way through this” before the deadline for the appeal, which would be 30 days after the written order is filed.

Carter said he wasn’t opposed to sitting down with the City, “but I’m not sure what we’re going to get out of it. I think that we need to exercise our legal aspect of this.” 

Haslam: “Maybe we didn’t do enough… We weren’t as aggressive because we’re trying to keep the peace.”

Haslam agreed about meeting with the City and added, “When all this went down, you know, it was very aggressive on their side with, frankly, a fake Facebook account that said a lot of lies, a lot of other stuff. You have students that don’t even have electric bills… They’re voting. They don’t know what they’re voting for. So they did a whole lot on their side. And maybe we didn’t do enough… We weren’t as aggressive because we’re trying to keep the peace, because we do live here, and we are citizens, and none of us are anti-Gainesville. I love this place. Having said that,… I think we need to do whatever we need to do… We need to be more aggressive.”

Jacobs: “We are all citizens here, and our only main concern is to keep the bills low and the electricity and water flowing as efficiently as possible”

Director Jack Jacobs said, “73% of the vote is just playing tricks with the numbers… There’s a concerted machine, a lot of disinformation out there that I don’t think people recognize,… in addition to the fact that all the billpayers were not represented. I don’t see how anybody could vote against us being up here. It’s not a political thing. Again, I disagree with that notion. We are all citizens here, and our only main concern is to keep the bills low and the electricity and water flowing as efficiently as possible… And so, you know, I’d be for pursuing our legal avenues.”

Jacobs continued, “Over the past 20 years, the City Commission has taken almost $750 million of our money that we could have used to pay off our debt. We could have been debt-free, and now we’re not, and we’re in a hole, and that’s the result of your City Commission. So how can you vote for that and stand up here and defend that? I don’t see how that’s possible.”

The motion passed unanimously. 

Bielarski: “Generally, given the way our legal structure works, it’s not a time for anyone to be doing victory laps”

After the vote, during CEO Comments, CEO Ed Bielarski said, “Generally, given the way our legal structure works, it’s not a time for anyone to be doing victory laps… The law is replete with appeals, and the decision isn’t made until the final authority makes their opinion known and the legal avenues are exhausted, and that’s what we’re doing as an organization. So any quick type of settlement of this, I think, is premature. Even to the extent that we talk about meeting with folks at the City – I have direct communications with the City Manager. We’re working on the various points of interconnection. We have folks that are working well with each other. I don’t want to fall victim, as an organization, to the political subterfuge that’s out there… It was really important for me, after all that’s happened, to give a message to the employees of GRU and to say that yesterday wasn’t what we expected. But there were a lot of good things that came out of it, and we’re going to work hard, and we’re going to continue the fight.”

Ballou: “Obviously, the legislature will have its own decision-making based on yesterday. I haven’t heard anything about what that decision-making may be, but the legal route is not the only route.”

During Attorney Comments, Authority Attorney Kiersten Ballou said, “We respect the judge’s opinion from yesterday. It is certainly not in line with our position, but it’s not the end of the road, and I can’t agree more with Ed [Bielarski] when he says that nobody should be running victory laps right now. On either side, there’s a lot of work to be done… This is not going to be a quick result for anyone on either side. I know that’s what we would all prefer. But unfortunately, the legal system does not work as quickly as we would like it to in most instances. However, we were successful on our Count II [misleading ballot language]. We do agree that that was the correct ruling by the court… So just to reiterate, we are looking into a litany of options… Obviously, the legislature will have its own decision-making based on yesterday. I haven’t heard anything about what that decision-making may be, but the legal route is not the only route. So that’s something to keep in mind, and we will keep you apprised of anything that we figure out as a potential option.”

Statement from Gainesville City Commissioner Bryan Eastman

Gainesville City Commissioner Bryan Eastman sent Alachua Chronicle the following statement: “This decision by the GRU Authority to keep fighting these endless legal challenges against the City will cost our taxpayers and ratepayers hundreds of thousands of dollars and sends our utility into more years of uncertainty, right when it needs stability. It’s a real shame. The community has spoken, the courts have spoken, and I hope the GRU Authority will give some real thought into what they’re trying to accomplish here and why.”