After being sworn in to her first meeting on Monday, Archer’s new Commissioner Karen Fiore wasted no time leading a charge on changes she wants to see the city make, from budget line items to job description wordsmithing.
Fiore, the rates and budget manager for Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) and a frequent commenter at Archer meetings, ran unchallenged for the commission’s Seat 1 following former Commissioner Joan White’s resignation in September.
The first 45 minutes of Monday’s meeting revolved around whether to approve the consent agenda, which included bill payments and the October meeting minutes.
Fiore and residents posed questions about city transactions that didn’t match bank balances, and unresolved public records requests placed four to five months ago that aimed to provide answers.
Fiore pointed to over 15 different transactions she wanted explanations for and said that until she got them, she wouldn’t approve the consent agenda, which passed 4-1.
“These aren’t full statements of any sort and we don’t know what we’re approving up here,” she said. “I need answers to those questions before I’m going to approve. And as we catch up on these bank statements and these reconciliations, those should be coming back to this board for approval.”
Fiore also said she would like to meet and shadow employees to learn more about city operations and proposed that the commission hold an additional public meeting before regular meetings to give the commission and citizens more time to know about and discuss items on upcoming agendas.
She said that although she could discuss any questions with interim City Manager Deanna Alltop separately, allowing citizens to partake would increase communication and transparency among the commission and with citizens.
Commissioner Kathy Penny said she’d be interested in a meeting for the agenda. While Vice Mayor Iris Bailey and Commissioner Marilyn Green said they liked the spirit of what the meeting would provide, they’d already voted in favor of one regular monthly meeting and adding this one would essentially revert back to two meetings.
The City Commission also moved to press pause on approving raises to water and solid waste rates until January 2026 in order to give city staff more time to notify residents about the changes.
The proposed increases would add $3.50 per month for water, raising the base residential rate from $15.09 to $18.59 and the base commercial rate from $22.56 to $26.06. The rate for solid waste would increase by 50 cents per month from $26.18 to $26.68.
During public comment, White said she hadn’t received notice of the raises and that she wasn’t the only one. Alltop said notices went out with the paper bills in September, but people who get their bills electronically likely didn’t get one. Green, who said she gets her bill online, also didn’t receive a notice.
The notices will go out with the November bills in a few weeks and the commission will vote on the raises in January.