The Gainesville City Commission on May 15 voted 6-1 to have the city attorney prepare for a special election this fall by drafting a reworded ballot amendment that would ask voters once again to decide the fate of the Gainesville Regional Utilities Authority.
The decision comes after an Eighth Judicial Court judge in April nullified the result of a 2024 referendum that passed overwhelmingly and would have returned power over the city-owned utility back to the commission.
Judge George M. Wright wrote in his ruling for summary judgment that the ballot language used in 2024 was “misleading.” He found fault in the referendum’s use of the word “elected” instead of “appointed” when describing the charter officer that would be tasked with managing GRU. Gainesville charter officers are appointed by the city commission.
Wright, however, also ruled that the city is allowed to amend its charter, and that Florida statute gives the city “home rule of an admissible corporation.”
“There’s no bulletproof guarantee that there would not be criticism of any language put forth. Even if it was the same language with this judge’s addition,” City Attorney Daniel Nee said Thursday.
Gainesville City Commissioner Bryan Eastman said the fact that the previous referendum had been reviewed by a judge who then seemingly noted how it could be fixed, puts the city in a strong position moving forward.
“I know there’s ambiguity in the law, but that feels as strong as you could possibly get,” Eastman said.
Several of the commissioners voiced concerns over the idea of holding an off-cycle election, which historically result in low voter turnout. A special election also could cost the city as much as $250,000, the bulk of which is already set aside in an account for such uses.
That was enough for Commissioner Cynthia Chestnut, the lone dissenting vote, to ask that the commission wait until August 2026 — during the city’s primary election — to bring the referendum to the voters.
“I’m concerned that people may be suffering from ballot fatigue. Next year we have an opportunity to build and fortify our constituency when the turnout would be heavy,” she said.
Commissioner James Ingle agreed with Chestnut and others that he would ideally like to see the referendum voted on during a regularly scheduled election to ensure more turnout, but that in this case the will of the voters was already clear.
“The general electorate has already spoken — pretty loudly,” he said. The 2024 referendum passed with 72.5% of the vote.
The motion included that the special election be held on Nov. 4, 2025, meaning time is of the essence. The commission must still hold two readings on the ballot measure, and get the ballot language to the Supervisor of Elections Office for printing.
Nee recalled that for the last election, the supervisor’s office needed the ballot language by the end of June for the November ballot. He noted, however, that the ballot for a special election would be much less “complex.”
Complicating matters is the city’s likely appeal of the April ruling over the ballot language following the judge’s final judgment, which is expected any day. The GRU Authority has indicated at prior meetings it also plans to appeal.
Nee said an appeal likely would not be heard for at least nine months. He also said that if GRUA files another injunction over the ballot measure like it did last fall, a judge could rule in its favor and allow the first appeal to run its course.
“It’s an odd situation, there’s no doubt about it,” Nee said.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: City of Gainesville planning special election for referendum on control of GRU
Reporting by Alan Festo, Gainesville Sun / The Gainesville Sun
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