Mayor Ward’s statement on allegations that he didn’t allow public comment at Pension Plan meeting
Press release from City of Gainesville
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At the September 5, 2024 meeting of the Board of Trustees for the Gainesville General Employees Pension Plan, three members of the public who wished to comment were inadvertently left waiting outside the chamber. This was due to a breakdown in communication between City Hall staff inside the meeting and the new security checkpoint in the building’s lobby.
Had I been aware people were waiting, I would have placed the meeting in recess until everyone had entered. I was not aware. There was no intent on my part, or on the part of City Hall staff, to exclude anyone from the Board of Trustees meeting, and I apologize on behalf of the City of Gainesville.
The trustees meeting was held to receive the fiscal year 2023 actuarial valuation report for the Gainesville General Employees Pension Plan. Business took approximately five minutes and then – with no further items on the agenda and no one in the chamber for public comment – I closed the meeting.
Upon leaving the chamber I learned of the oversight at the security station. To be clear, the individuals who were unable to enter the auditorium in the morning did have the opportunity to participate in the open public comment period for the commission meeting later in the day. The statement that had been prepared for the morning was successfully delivered by one of them before the Gainesville City Commission.
The public’s fundamental right to speak on matters of public concern is of paramount importance to me as mayor and as chair. We are revisiting our procedures for security operations to be certain this never occurs again.
Both the trustees meeting and the commission meeting are available in full on video at this link.
Please feel free to contact my office if there are further questions regarding meeting procedures, this event, or actions taken to remedy this situation.
 |
Mayor Harvey Ward
Sounds like possible violation of government and sunshine. Maybe the state needs to come in and do an investigation. This was intentional cause I personally wouldn’t leave a damn thing that came out wards mouth.
Yes, there was a “breakdown” in communication, and I was the one to break it down!!!! I know these people who wanted to speak didn’t want things to go as I command them to go. So, the easiest way to deal with them is to simply not deal with them. Then all I do is blame staff, and our security and I look like i had no idea these people wanted to speak. I mean let’ face it, even if they got to speak, they wouldn’t be heard anyway, so what is the big deal?
hahahahaha, “The public’s fundamental right to speak on matters of public concern is of paramount importance to me as mayor and as chair,” hahahahahaha
I rarely, if ever, agree with anything Two-face Harvey says, but if these were the idiots protesting outside City Hall good for him.
Just because they don’t agree with investing in companies, (who by the way, have a higher ROI than most companies), for manufacturing weapons that further the eradication of terrorists, doesn’t mean it’s not fiscally the greatest opportunity for maintaining a viable and profitable pension fund. (That’s supposed to fiduciary in nature).
If the protestors had real lives, and jobs, they would know that.
The Mayor has been a thorn in the side of the General poulation of the City along with those that work for the City. As with any politician they seem to talk out the side of their mouths then claim they didn’t know about anything. The City Commission has been bypassing the Sunshine law for a long time. They sure don’t come up with this stuff sitting in front of a crowd.
What do they need a security checkpoint for?
Did they waste money on a metal detector and a cop before you can attend the public meeting?
Maybe they don’t want the downtown vagrants and panhandlers coming in to use the restrooms.
We need cops on foot & bicycles downtown to keep the citizens safe, not just inside city hall‼️
Here is what you don’t understand and let me explain it to you again. NOW LISTEN UP!!!!! It is not about the citizens safety it is about mine!!!! In case you don’t remember someone threw a rock at my office window at 3am, now even though I was home in bed miles from city hall this was a direct attack on me. All this fuss about Trump getting bang banged to the head piece is nothing compared to the attack I endured. You could never know how I felt when I waddled into my office at 11:45am the next morning (just in time for lunch) and I saw that cracked window. I knew at that point that the attack on Trump was nothing compared to the direct attack on myself, and the cracked window was symbolic of the emotional scars I continue to endure.
Plus, you have to admit, it gives me a good reason to keep people out City Hall when I don’t want to hear from them. I just blame staff and security.
I hope your security staff protects you as good as Trumps’ secret service staff protected him!
Harvey and his Wallbangers ride again. “Oh we are not crooked; we are just inept.”
Or were ‘unintended consequences’ the cause of this destruction of our democratic process?
Boo and Hiss.
Usual idiocy from the usual idiots on this comments board.
And yet, your DA continues to come here instead of the state run trash rag that aligns with your idiotology! We understand, the state run trash rag is anti free speech and did away with the comment section due to the pathetic degenerates in charge getting their feels hurt when people disagree with their stupidity!
Idiot #5, the Sun – if that is who you mean – is not state run, nor is The INDEPENDENT Florida Alligator, which has been the go to source on the state GOP’s trashing of UF. The Sun has suffered the changes sweeping the nation which has meant the death of almost all of our local newspapers, hardly something to celebrate or blame on our particular version. By the way, if the Sun was good at anything in it’s last days of actually being published here , it was it’s comments section, especially on Sundays, which was large and inclusive.
Let’s hope Alachua Chronicle continues strongly and even morph’s into a more complete local news gathering and on-line publishing entity.
Don’t be so hard on yourself. 😉
Another great comment from the greediest person of them all, a local contractor. The first 3 letters of CONtractor, describe JizzGuzzler the best.
Yet you still get on here and publish Your idiot comments also, what does that say about you
Are you having a nervous breakdown because you fear Kamala will crash and burn tonight? Aww, poor baby.
Hey! Look up at the scoreboard.
Govt employee pension and IRA funds are a major driver pushing development. For tax revenue growth. People don’t realize the gov’t can be just as greedy as businessmen.
That’s why we need Trump, he’s not lying about that. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
There is nothing that Trump is NOT lying about.
More idiot responses (6 thumbs down) from the usual idiots on this board. How do 6 people disagree with the fact that “There is nothing that Trump is NOT lying about.” and only 1 – me – agree? Answer? They are idiots.
What’s your IQ, Jazzman? You have never seemed that smart to me, in spite of your big attitude and bluster. You were always a “B student” at best, right?
Didn’t do my homework, but Dean’s List for the short time I was at UF, Invitational Honors program, and aced 5 hour MS 205 Calculus my only math class. Moved to NYC after sophomore year and never finished.
You?
Mayor Ward issued this response after I, an independent journalist at gnvinfo.com, and a Gainesville taxpayer were barred from entering the meeting at the General Employees Pension Plan on Thursday.
We were told one specific security officer needed to be the one to check our bags when there were already multiple qualified officers at the checkpoint. When we were allowed to enter five minutes later the meeting had been already been adjourned.
The taxpayer who wanted to public comment on the meeting was denied specifically by Ward. She wanted to request a list of additional risks on the actuarial valuation report.
“Additional advanced modeling, as well as the identification of additional risks, can be provided at the request of the audience addressed on page 2 of this report.” (P 31 of report.) (https://pub-cityofgainesville.escribemeetings.com/FileStream.ashx?DocumentId=95271)
Her being able to comment at the afternoon meeting did not make it all better as the mayor describes. The statement she wanted to make pertained specifically to the pension plan meeting and she shouldn’t have had to wait until the public comment on non-agenda items at a different meeting to say it.
Furthermore, while yes the Board of Trustees (BOT) for the Pension Plan Funds is the Gainesville City Commission, the filing of the meetings would indicate the BOT is recognized as a separate body. The BOT meeting is filed as a separate meeting from the City Commission meeting. (https://www.gainesvillefl.gov/Government-Pages/Government/Public-Meeting-Participation/New-Agendas-Minutes)
Florida’s Sunshine laws guarantee a right of public access to All public meetings.
This “breakdown in communication” was an egregious violation of Sunshine laws.
Please put this comment on the FB page as well. More people need to see the truth about Ward’s lies.