Power to the people? Gainesville votes on who really runs GRU

Gainesville voters will decide Tuesday whether to keep control of the city’s utility in the hands of a Governor-appointed authority or return it to the elected City Commission — ending, or perhaps extending, one of Florida’s more curious experiments in “local control.”

The special referendum comes after a Judge’s ruling earlier this year that nullified a 73% vote in favor of restoring City Hall’s control over Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU). The decision, in effect, stripped Gainesville residents of their own verdict on self-governance in favor of faux concerns about abstruse wording.

So again, voters will decide whether Gainesville’s century-old utility should answer to the people who live within city limits or to a Board appointed by politicians who don’t.

Gov. Ron DeSantis created the GRU Authority in 2023 when he signed HB 1645, legislation by former Rep. Chuck Clemons of Newberry. Framed as providing a “voice” to customers in unincorporated Alachua County and smaller municipalities, the bill transferred oversight from a City Commission accountable to voters to a Board composed of gubernatorial appointees.

The authority has spent the past two years defending the takeover. Chief Executive Officer Ed Bielarski, a sacked GRU employee whom the Authority reinstated after being routed in the 2022 mayoral race, touts the benefits of “running GRU like a business,” pointing to a $177 million drop in debt and lower electric rates.

Much of that decline stems from falling fuel costs — a factor the Board doesn’t control — and the decision to withhold $6.8 million a year from the city’s general fund transfer, a move Bielarski insists was “not punitive.”

Referendum supporters don’t buy it. Yes Campaign Manager Bobby Mermer equates the withholding to a Tallahassee-sanctioned “revenge tour” for Bielarski.

“He’s raised rates on rooftop solar customers. He’s gutted low-income support programs and burdened customers already struggling with their bills with additional deposits,” Mermer said. “He’s forced the city to cut jobs and services by withholding most of GRU’s payment in lieu of taxes. And there’s nothing we can do about it until we abolish the GRU Authority.”

While the “Yes” crowd — including Mayor Harvey Ward and Commissioner Bryan Eastman — leans on the voter-accountability argument in campaign messaging, the authority contends that the vote disenfranchises the 30,000-plus non-city customers and violates the 2023 law.

Alachua County Circuit Judge George Wright wasn’t moved by that argument, denying the authority’s last-ditch request to halt the election.

The language on today’s ballot aims to address what the judge flagged in April: ambiguity in the process for appointing a General Manager. With voting limited to Gainesville residents, expectations are that the “yes” voters will come through again.

“We didn’t get to 73% because a bunch of people were confused,” City Commissioner Casey Willits, who helped draft the new wording, said in April. “We got there because of a long history of public utilities and voters trusting the people they elect.”

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for Gainesville residents living inside city limits.