Key Points
Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward and Gainesville Regional Utilities CEO Ed Bielarski will debate in a nonpartisan town hall next week as a Nov. 4 referendum to dissolve the GRU Authority nears.
The referendum, if successful, would dissolve the authority, which governs the utility, and return control of GRU to the City Commission, which managed the utility until 2023.
Hosted by Visionaries Inc., the town hall will start at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at the D. R. Williams Fellowship Hall, 618 NW 6th St., Gainesville. The Alachua County NAACP is also supporting the event.
Besides Ward and Bielarski, a representative from the Supervisor of Elections office will discuss statewide changes to the vote-by-mail process.
The event is open to the public, and light refreshments will be served afterward.
The GRU Authority was created in 2023 following a local bill that passed the Florida Legislature and was signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Proponents of the authority said the City Commission had irresponsibly managed the utility, causing $1.8 billion in debt. But the City Commission and many community groups opposed the change. Critics said it took away local control and gave it to an unelected body.
The City Commission decided to place a referendum on the 2024 election to amend its charter and remove the section added by the Florida Legislature that created the GRU Authority.
That referendum was then challenged in the courts.
Gainesville’s attorneys argued that cities have the power to change their charters, even sections added by the Florida Legislature. A judge agreed in April 2025.
The Legislature could have placed the utility completely outside the city’s jurisdiction, but by using a change in the charter, the judge said a future change to the charter could remove the authority and reinstate the commission as GRU managers.
Even though the 2024 referendum passed, the judge also ruled that the language about the change used on the ballot was misleading. This ruling left the GRU Authority in charge even as the decision is under appeal before the Florida First District Court of Appeal.
In the meantime, the City Commission voted to update the ballot language, hold a special election and ask the electorate to return to the polls.
The GRU Authority has filed injunctions to prevent this second referendum, scheduled for Nov. 4. So far, those lawsuits have been unsuccessful, but another hearing will happen on Oct. 29.
Specifically, What is this debate about?
Will the town hall be livestreamed online?
Please People! GRU is and should be operated as a business. What influence does any local government have on Florida Power? GRU is not a political toy.
Please set me right if I am wrong.
Until Gainesville elects a competent city commission it shouldn’t be anywhere near GRU
Jim, can you explain what you mean by “operated as a business”? Businesses seek to maximize profits that they return to their shareholders, correct? Well, in that sense, one could argue that GRU, which is owned by the city of Gainesville, is returning its profits to its shareholders.
Personally, I believe in energy democracy, the idea that people deserve a say in energy and utility-related decisions that affect their lives. The fact that Florida Power users have so little say in how it’s run is harmful to its customers. And, in fact, Florida Power, it could be argued, is also a “political toy” in the way that it buys politicians and seeks regulations (or lack thereof) that maximize its own profits, even at the expense of its customers and the wider citizenry.
There are basically 3 models of utilities in the US:
-municipally-owned utilities (like GRU) owned by municipalities and accountable to the voters.
-co-ops (like Clay), owned and accountable to their members.
-investor-owned utilities (like Duke and Florida Power) owned and accountable to their shareholders, but more regulated by the state (at least in theory) than munis and co-ops.
GRU’s current model of governance is unlike any other utility that I’m aware of in the US. Its members are appointed by the Governor, it is not regulated by the state like the IOUs are, and it is accountable to…who, exactly? If we don’t like the decisions that the GRU Authority makes, what can we actually do about it? Call the Governor? No thanks. I’ll go back to City Commission control, as imperfect as that was, but where at least I knew that I could call my local Commissioner and expect some level of response. DeSantis has shown his absolute disdain and disinterest in our community from the very beginning of the GRU Authority’s creation, and he continues to up to the present day.
The Gainesville City Commission had been using GRU as a political piggy bank, customer electric / natural gas / water rates were going sky high with no relief in sight, and THAT is why GRU customers complained to the state and the state stepped in, setting up the GRU Authority oversight body. IF the Gainesville City Commission hadn’t been irresponsible with Gainesville residents’ funds in the form of GRU earnings, using them for pet political projects, instead of re-investing into GRU infrastructure improvements and pre-paying for discounted natural gas contracts as the GRU Authority is now doing, then the state would not have had a reason to slap their collective wrists. Never forget, the Gainesville City Commission had just voted to give themselves HUGE pay raises right before the GRU Authority stepped in, and put the kibosh on their self-serving plans.
Come on, “Anon,” can we move beyond the “piggy bank” cliche? Yawn. Can you please provide some evidence as to GRU’s natural gas AND water rates being “sky high” as compared with other utilities across the state? How about the “pet projects” you’re referring to, what were those exactly? So bored with anonymous people/chatbots just parroting the same tired right-wing talking points. And let’s not delude ourselves that Tallahassee is so deeply concerned about utility customer well-being. If they were, they might have respected the repeated votes by people in this community to maintain local control and they would definitely be doing a better job of taking care of the vast majority of customers who are being abused by the investor-owned utilities. No, the actual agenda here is maximum utility privatization –> to maximum grift for our state reps and senators.
I will be the first to admit that some of our City Commissions over the years (because it’s an ever-changing body, after all, not a monolithic all-powerful entity as it is often portrayed) have had some shortcomings and have not left GRU in the best shape. That’s on us, the voters, for not holding them accountable. But the GRU Authority is in no way a move in the right direction. Now NO GRU customers have any say in how the utility is run, City residents or otherwise.
Jason doesn’t want GRU run as a business. Then he won’t be able to suck money out of GRU for his groups bogus energy audits.
Lol.
One of the people in this conversation has volunteered for the past 16 years with a local nonprofit (https://communityweatherization.org/) that has served >2,000 homes in Alachua County, most of them low-income. That same nonprofit has documented saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in utility bills, millions of kilowatt-hours of energy, and tens of millions of gallons of water in Alachua County. Oh, and we’ve received nationwide recognition and grant funding for our work.
The other person in this chat won’t even use their real name. Sad.
Running a utility as a business only benefits the people at the top. Ed is the new self appointed “CEO”. He wants that big energy money. If we dont watch out, Gainesville will be like Springfield and Mr Bielarski will be our Mr Burns.
Giving themselves pay raises is EXACTLY what Ed did for himself on day 1 and continues to do so even up to this past month. Lining his own pockets to become the highest paid in GRU history (not a good look ED) while those doing the work are seeing NOTHING as far as advancing their pay. All while positions have been eliminated, workload has doubled on those doing the actual day to day and we are all told “Shut up and get back to work”. Ed likes to blame the city for poor management, but HE WAS THE GENERAL MANAGER at the time. If he’s going to do great things, why didnt he do it when he was at the helm? Easy for him to blame the city, but it was always his job to manage this place and the city recognized he was poorly managing this place and fired him. he’s been on a path of vengence ever since. Trying unsuccessfully to run for Mayor and when that didnt work, doing GRU executives dirty to claw his way back to the top, taking control through back alley deals with the authority, granting himself unheard of pay increases, blocking the citizens votes that would remove him from power, arguing to nullify our voice. This man is dangerous and NOT what this utility needs in order to grow and continue serving this community. He was the wrong choice for the Authority but they are in too deep now. GRU needs to go back to the city without Ed at the helm. Just the thoughts of a concerned GRU Employee and Gainesville Resident.
Same problem today. The only difference is who’s hand is in the cookie jar. I dont care what figures Ed and his team of hacks shows us, as a resident just look at your bill and tell me if your energry bill has gone down. Ed’s pay goes up, our bills go up. They can show one thing, but the reality tells a much worse story. The Authority and Ed need to be shut down before we no longer have a voice in the matter. Ed has already made it clear that he has no intention of listening to the people. When we vote he scrambles to his legal team to find loopholes to nullify our voice. What do you think he’s going to do when he has finished consolidating his power of the “Piggy Bank” as you call it. He wants vindication after being fired the first time, validation after failing to run for Mayor of Gainesville and more pay/time off to enrich his own life while failing to delivery on his committments to the customers and citizens of Gainesville. Shame on Ed and shame on the Authority for allowing him to get away with it unchecked.
Instead of simply operating as a utility business, the GRU “AUTHORITY “ has been highly political since day one. Bielarsky, in particular, seems to have his own political agenda beyond just managing the utility. Recall that he failed as a political candidate. The organization was created by legislative fiat and none of us, who are directly affected, got any chance to vote on it.
Just like the 40% of GRU customers who live outside of the City have never had a say in any of it.
1) I agree that GRU customers outside of the City limits should have a say in how the utility is run, event though the proponents of this argument usually only extend it to GRU (.e.g., should customers of Duke and FPL have a say in how those utilities are run?).
2) When Clemons and Perry created the bill that changed GRU’s governance to its current model, they were asked to extend a vote on the referendum to non-City customers. They refused. I would put good money on any election that included all of GRU’s ratepayers (City and non-City) STILL voting to regain local control over the system that is currently in place. I sure wish that our current legislative delegation would take me up on that bet.
3) Under the old system (City Commission governance), non-City residents could still voice their concerns to City Commissioners and if they felt like they weren’t being listened to, could help influence the next City Commission election via volunteering and donating to the opposition’s campaign. Under the current system, both people inside and outside the City have only one recourse, and that’s Ron DeSantis. He’s so unconcerned with what we think of him and the GRU Authority that he hasn’t even followed the law that created the Authority and that he signed.
The choice is clear folks, vote YES for local public utilities on Nov 4th. Then let’s all work together and fix the issues over at GRU.
The GRU Authority is the worst. Anything that can be done to get them out of the Utility Management business is good for Gainesville. Their cuts have done nothing except enrich those at the top (ie C level raises and bonuses) while putting extreme strain on the employees and offering only position eliminations and lack of pay recognition while at the same time NOT seeing any improvement in my monthly costs what so ever (My rates are as higher or higher than they were last year). Speaking as a GRU employee AND resident of the city of Gainesville. The current state of things is not sustainable and I blame the authority for poor oversight and management for not doing the right thing for the employees they are taking advantage of.
One side wants the state to control a city utility (which happens nowhere else in the USA).
The other side wants to return the utility to its rightful owners: City of Gainesville residents.
People will say “WE voted for this”. Which isn’t true.
City of Gainesville residents will prove, again, that we didn’t vote to have our power stolen from us by governor white boots, on Nov 4th.