Judge denies GRU Authority’s expedited motion to enjoin City from holding Special Election on GRU governance in November

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At a September 30 hearing, Judge George Wright denied an expedited motion from the GRU Authority to enjoin the City of Gainesville and the Alachua County Supervisor of Elections from holding a Special Election on November 4.

The GRU Authority filed the lawsuit in August, after the City Commission voted to hold a second voter referendum on the governance of Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU); the first referendum passed with 72.5% voter approval, and Judge Wright ruled that the ballot language was misleading but said the City could try again with different language. The order in that case has been appealed by both sides.

The August lawsuit (click here for more information) argues that

1. The Charter amendment that is the subject of the voter referendum is inconsistent with the Special Law that created the Authority;
2. Because the legislature limited the City’s powers outside the city limits, those powers cannot be restored by amending the City’s charter;
3. Home rule powers do not extend to changing the Charter in a way that affects individuals outside the city limits;
4. The referendum language is misleading;
5. The referendum contradicts the City’s charter;
6. The referendum would void the representational interest of people outside the city limits; and
7. Florida Statute 166.0411 requires the ordinance setting the election to be suspended because it was challenged within 90 days of enactment.

The relevant statute is shown below:

166.0411 Legal challenges to certain recently enacted ordinances.—

(1) A municipality must suspend enforcement of an ordinance that is the subject of an action challenging the ordinance’s validity on the grounds that it is expressly preempted by the State Constitution or by state law or is arbitrary or unreasonable if:

(a) The action was filed with the court no later than 90 days after the adoption of the ordinance;

(b) The plaintiff requests suspension in the initial complaint or petition, citing this section; and

(c) The municipality has been served with a copy of the complaint or petition.

On September 10, the Authority filed a motion that requested an expedited order to enforce the suspension of the ordinance setting the Special Election, arguing that all four provisions of the statute have been met, so “[a]s a matter of Florida law,” the City must suspend enforcement of the ordinance and delay the Special Election.

The City of Gainesville argued that the Authority’s request was an attempt to “distort [the statute] into an unprecedented election-cancelling tool” and that Judge Wright had already decided on the merits that the City has the authority to hold a ballot referendum on GRU governance. 

The Authority replied that suspending the ordinance “is not a judicial veto over an election” but a response “to the City’s breakneck speed in subverting the [GRU Authority]’s due process.” The Authority argued that if the City had scheduled the election for 2026, there would have been time to adjudicate the Authority’s challenge to the ordinance.

The Authority’s September 10 motion requested a temporary injunction that would prohibit the City from holding the Special Election until a judge rules on the merits of the lawsuit.

On September 30, Judge Wright denied the motion, holding that it was premature because the ordinance could not be enforced (i.e., the Charter cannot be changed) until after the referendum; he also indicated that he had doubts about whether the ordinance was “expressly preempted by the State Constitution,” which could signal that he does not currently think that Statute 166.0411 applies to the City’s ordinance.