The Gainesville City Commission voted Thursday to continue with its plan to hold a special election in November, with a final vote coming at the June 12 meeting.
The special election would be a referendum on a charter amendment that would alter governance of Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU). The special election vote comes a day after GRU sent a letter saying that any referendum result that occurs before the current litigation ends would also end in the courts.
GRU and the city of Gainesville now stand before the First District Court of Appeals for a case ruled on in Alachua County in April.
City Attorney Dan Nee said the appeal process might finish in a year. If the City Commission waited until it finished, it may be too late to place a referendum on the November 2026 general election. Then the city might need to wait until a special election in early 2027 or wait until the next general election in 2028 if the commissioner wanted a full turnout.
Nee addressed portions of the GRU letter. He said the commission has every right to place another referendum before voters. The letter’s arguments about it being a waste of money or potentially ending up back in court aren’t a legal matter for him to advise on, but a policy decision the commission was elected to make.
Commissioner Ed Book said he doesn’t understand a letter that says we’ll sue no matter what. He also said the letter lied in saying it’ll confuse the public to do another referendum, saying it either underestimates the will or intelligence of the voters.
Mayor Harvey Ward said the voters have already done their job in 2018 and 2014 when voting on control of GRU. But he said they’ll need to do it again.
“I am completely aware, and I think my colleagues are all aware, that should this go back on the ballot and be passed, that you are not doing it because you like us necessarily,” Ward said. “You’re doing it because you own the utility, and right now, you can’t hire and fire the directors of that utility.”
Nee highlighted three small changes between the 2024 ballot language and the upcoming referendum language that his office recommended.
First, the office fixed the modifier that Judge George Walker said made the ballot language misleading. According to grammar, Wright said that the adjective modifying “city commission” is also modifying “charter officer.” Meaning someone reading the referendum could reasonably think the control of GRU will go to the elected City Commission and the elected charter officer.
The new language adds the modifier “city commission-appointed charter officer” to remove the confusion.
Second, Nee said in reviewing the transcript from the arguments, the judge paused a little on the term used to describe the GRU Authority’s administrator of the utility. The 2024 referendum said “its appointed administrator,” but that term isn’t used anywhere in the city charter.
Instead, the new language will clarify that the referendum would eliminate the GRU Authority and “its authority-appointed chief executive officer/general manager.”
Lastly, the new language shows that the result of eliminating Article 7 of the Gainesville charter would be the City Commission receiving control.
Instead of “and placing that responsibility with the elected city commission,” the language turns to passive voice and says, “so that the elected city commission…have that responsibility.”
Proposed 2025 Ballot Language (changes placed in bold)
Shall the City of Gainesville charter be amended to delete Article VII, eliminating the governor-appointed Gainesville Regional Utilities Authority and its authority-appointed chief executive officer/general manager that manage, operate and control the City of Gainesville’s local public utilities, so that the elected City Commission and its City Commission-appointed charter officer have that responsibility; and eliminating limitations on the government services contribution and utility directives, as proposed by ordinance No. 2025-416?
2024 Ballot Language
“Shall the City of Gainesville charter be amended to delete Article VII, eliminating the governor-appointed Gainesville Regional Utilities Authority and its appointed administrator that manage, operate and control the City of Gainesville’s local public utilities, and placing that responsibility with the elected City Commission and charter officer; and eliminating limitations on the government services contribution and utility directives, as proposed by ordinance No. 2024-352?”