Konish: Opponents of reform of GRU governance create confusion and chaos in order to stymie long-overdue change

Letter to the editor

Ray Washington recently reminded me of the infamous 2015 recording of Pegeen Hanrahan opining on the 2015 Perry GRU governance bill. Recorded at Coffee Culture without her knowledge, she counseled her audience on creating confusion and chaos in order to “easily” kill the relatively benign 2018 Perry legislation (HB1325; 769) with provisions that the City Commission would appoint GRU Authority members, the General Fund Transfer (GFT) would be protected, there would be no limitation on utility “directives” or expenditures of GRU funds, and Authority members would receive no compensation (see www.tumblr.com/queenpegeen). The appurtenant, vicious, and sometimes false personal attacks on anyone associated with GRU reform are legendary (see part 2 of Hanrahan’s comments at the link above). 

On April 18, 2024, Gainesville City Attorney Daniel Nee presented a partisan proposal to quickly pass an “Ordinance Calling for a Charter Amendment Referendum Regarding the City of Gainesville’s Local Public Utilities” (emphasis added). 

Mr. Nee, who still insists he is the GRU attorney despite being replaced, continues to receive his normal $500,000+ annual GRU ratepayer funding. He erroneously suggests that a City Commission can effectively repeal a local state law (HB1645) on its own initiative – with City-only voter approval. GRU is a regional utility with nearly 40% of electric meters in the unincorporated area outside of the city (urban fringe). 

Nee’s repudiated legal theory is that since he is the City Attorney, he is therefore the GRU attorney, in violation of his professional Code of Ethics. Similarly, he maintains that GRU and the City Commission are inseparable. Mr. Nee refuses to accept the fact that the GRU Authority, City, City Commission, and GRU are separate legal entities that are defined as such within Article VII, Section 7.02 (1),(2),(3), & (8) of the newly revised Gainesville City Charter. 

Modified legislative mandates have been imposed as of 5/28/2023. The GRU Authority and City Commission are now sister coequal units of City government (see “Konish: A city is not a political subdivision of the State of Florida,” Alachua Chronicle, April 8, 2023).

Having gotten a weak, dysfunctional GRU “Authority” orchestrated by Craig Carter to allow the GRU CEO/GM Tony Cunningham to thwart effectuation of HB1645, Nee now seeks to wipe Section 2 of HB1645 off the books “in its entirety” immediately upon passage of an illegal referendum on November 5, 2024. 

Section 7.10(2) of the assailed Article VII of our current revised City Charter provides: 

7.10 (2) – “…In the event that any City charter provision, ordinance, resolution, decree, or any part thereof conflicts with the provisions of this article, the provisions of this article shall govern.” (emphasis added)

The partisans behind this latest scheme have identified justiciable issues regarding eligibility of those members initially appointed to the GRU Authority, and that case is currently paused without a ruling. Any State appeal of a ruling in that case would trigger an automatic stay of such ruling pending appeal. New GRU Authority members will soon be appointed. All other legal attacks have failed miserably (see “Konish: Plaintiffs against HB1645 also sued to prevent 2018 referendum”, Alachua Chronicle, July 10, 2023). These same now-emboldened miscreants are advancing an obviously illegal City Commission Ordinance that purports to call for a binding referendum to “delete in its entirety” Section 2 of Article VII from the City of Gainesville Charter immediately upon passage (November 5, 2024).

Facing a May 31, 2024 deadline, Nee et al. have worked until late at night (I saw their light on) to put forth an “ordinance” banned by Section. 7.10(2) of the City Charter. 

This latest move follows coordinated and failed legal attacks by Nee and City Commissioner cronies as follows (see “Konish: Local partisans and their frivolous lawsuits”, Alachua Chronicle, October 19, 2023): 

1. Lawsuit belatedly filed to prevent 2018 vote on Perry GRU bill (case never heard). 
2. Lawsuit to void HB1645 by Nee – failed/City rebuked/Akerman $500,000 – $763/hr (see “Konish: Judge Dempsey rebukes Gainesville City Commission and their attorneys”, Alachua Chronicle, October 3, 2023).
3. Lawsuit claiming first amendment violations (dismissed).
4. Lawsuit challenging notice and oath administered to Authority members (dismissed).

The hypocrisy inherent in the latest move is palatable. The perils that GRU ratepayers are confronted with are ominous (see “Konish: Hutch, Ward et al. seek to destroy GRU in order to make sure the HB1645 Authority fails”, Alachua Chronicle, December 10, 2023). GRU is like a driverless car heading toward a financial cliff (see “Konish: How GRU was financially ruined by a political agenda”, Alachua Chronicle, January 22, 2024).

City Commissioner and Mayor cronies will only provoke more litigation that they will again lose. GRU ratepayer funds continue to be wasted (see “Konish: Unsustainable hemorrhaging of GRU ratepayer funds continues”, Alachua Chronicle, February 11, 2024, and “Konish: Dark money – how the City abuses GRU ratepayers on the ‘Indirect Transfer,'” Alachua Chronicle, March 31, 2024). Partisan hacks cannot go around the legislature via the City Commission unless they first obtain the required signatures. Any bare City Ordinance not accompanied with requisite voter signatures is voided by Section 7.10(2). Voters can trump the legislature – the City Commission cannot. They have been fired by higher powers. The State’s oversight role over a rogue municipality is indisputable. Municipal “Home Rule” is tempered by the supremacy of both State and even County powers.

While the draft referendum language has not been finalized, there are serious problems with what Nee has initially put forth. One-on-one consultations between Nee and individual Mayor/Commissioners are planned. Nee’s draft uses 64 of the 75 allowed words.

As always, Nee conflates political messaging with his legal wordsmithing that keeps him paid ($228,000+ annually) as follows: 

1. Title: LOCAL PUBLIC UTILITIES 
   • Comment: A City-owned public utility is “local” per se. This redundant language in the title is an ongoing attempt to brand our local elected Republican State Representatives as outsiders, and is misleading as such. It is a partisan dog whistle.
2. Voters are first asked to “DELETE IN ITS ENTIRETY ARTICLE VII (Section 2) ELIMINATING THE GOVERNOR-APPOINTED… AUTHORITY…”
   • Comment: On a crowded November 5, 2024 ballot, how many voters will really understand the complexities of HB1645? (see “Konish: Clemons’ bill is an exquisite and intricate amendment to the City of Gainesville’s Charter that fires the City Commission,” Alachua Chronicle, April 27, 2023). The answer will be very few. The obvious and despicable calculation is that the unnecessary word “local” in the title juxtapositioned closely to the words “Governor-Appointed” will somehow overcome widespread voter dissatisfaction with their GRU bills. A dysfunctional do-nothing GRU Authority heavy on county members providing no representation for county GRU ratepayers has invited this poison pill referendum, the earlier City/Nee attack on GRU Rights-of-Way, ongoing massive and unknown SLA (Service Level Agreement) losses, etc.
3. The draft question refers to an “APPOINTED ADMINISTRATOR” of GRU when in fact there is no such person. This is misleading. Our current grandfathered, interim GRU CEO/GM is an employee of the Authority that is off the rails along with Nee et al. It is deeply disturbing that the current GRU CEO/GM was stripped of all powers as of 7/1/23 but upholds outlawed policies like a czar. Section 1 of HB1645 repealed section 3.06 of the City Charter that had made the GRU GM a Charter Officer of the City. 31 ordinances empowering the GRU GM were wiped away. Deletion of Section 2 of Article VII “in its entirety” only leaves this outcome fully intact. This is misleading.
4. The roles of the current GRU CEO/GM and Authority are to be immediately transferred to “THE ELECTED CITY COMMISSION AND CHARTER OFFICER.” This would prevent Governor-appointed replacement Mayor/City Commissioners from “serving” as GRU Governors. Ridiculous results are necessarily erroneous. Such “CHARTER OFFICER” is NOT identified either (control of GRU is intended to go to the City Manager). This again is misleading. 
5. Finally, in flagrant violation of a single subject rule governing such a referendum, the referendum calls for “ELIMINATING LIMITATIONS ON THE GOVERNMENT SERVICES CONTRIBUTION AND UTILITY DIRECTIVES.” Thus, GRU is to be codified in the City Charter as a political ATM for the current City Commission regime. I count at least four (4) different questions as follows: 
   • Abolish the Governor-Appointed GRU Authority?
   • Abolish GRU CEO/GM?
   • Eliminate limitations on the Government Services Contribution (GSC)?
   • Eliminate limitations on utility directives?

This is known in legal parlance as “logrolling”.

To hell with the GRU bond covenants and credit rating (see “Konish: Basic facts About GRU debt”, Alachua Chronicle, March 3, 2023). The proposed ballot measure, if included on a ballot, would not be legally binding. It would create enormous confusion that could never be settled by the proposed, ill-advised and unnecessary $200,000+/ 2-year bond “validation” proceeding. There is ambiguity as to which election ballot this measure would be placed on (August Primary, November General Election, concurrent, or as a separate special election in November or some other date). 

Unless the State and/or ratepayers aggressively intervene, GRU ratepaters at large are in for a very rough ride. GRU could quickly become insolvent (See “Konish: GRU ratepayers are stranded on an energy and financial island”, Alachua Chronicle, March 13, 2023). 

Jim Konish, Gainesville

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