On Thursday, April 18, the city commission discussed verbiage for an ordinance intended to be placed on a ballot referendum at the general election on November 5, 2024. The LWV of Alachua County has a strong stance that voters should have an opportunity to vote on the referendum and that voters should vote “yes”.

HB 1645 was presented to the legislature in 2023 as a “local bill” that bypassed input from local leaders or the public, as is the usual; there was no local meeting for local input. Instead, the only opportunity to address legislators was by traveling to Tallahassee after the legislative session began, which was prohibitive to everyone, but especially to working citizens or people with family responsibilities. The bill was rushed through the legislative process with questionable legalities and processes unaddressed. The governor signed the bill. The bill inserted Article 7 into the Gainesville charter, taking away local governance of our public utility, GRU, and placing it into the hands of a five member “authority” appointed by the governor with virtually no oversight. One of the appointed authority members immediately resigned, recognizing that she did not meet the basic requirement of living in Gainesville. Four other members took the oath of office that said they met all requirements, even though only one of them met the residency requirement. Since the authority took control in October, 2023, they have made every effort to separate GRU from the city, even though GRU remains is a department of the city. The remaining four have now resigned after a legal challenge resulted in a settlement which acknowledged that proper nominating process was not followed and ruled that they do not meet the residency requirement.

The League stands in strong opposition to the GRU Authority because the process for implementing it bypassed democratic processes and home rule was violated. Further, the law was breached when people unqualified to fill the role were appointed and sat at the dais making decisions that have profound implications for Gainesville.

The prospective ballot referendum will ask voters if Article 7, which created the Authority, should be repealed and return governance to locally elected officials. The city commission has scheduled two required readings of the ordinance for May 16 and May 23, each at 1pm at City Hall. OF NOTE: six of the seven city commissioners must vote in favor of putting the ordinance on the ballot as a referendum. Therefore, public encouragement for commissioners to vote in favor of the referendum is urgently needed.

The Action Alert ask for this week is twofold:

1. Email the city commissioner and mayor, all of whom can be messaged here. Suggestions for your message:
1. Thank them for the constructive discussion about the ordinance at the meeting on 4/18.
2. Encourage them to vote in favor of putting the ordinance on the ballot to allow the voters to decide who should govern our public utility.
2. If at all possible, put the two city commission meetings on your calendar and attend the meetings. You may speak if you like, but just being their speaks for itself.

Thank you.