The Alachua City Commission voted 3-2 on Monday against staff’s recommended motion to hire Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc. to help fill a gap left in the city’s planning department after three of its four planners resigned within a short amount of time. 

The commission asked City Attorney Marian Rush to find an outside lawyer to conduct an inquiry into the resignations during its Feb. 10 meeting, then canceled the request in a Feb. 24 meeting, after Rush brought back a recommendation. 

Public commenters have lined up at commission meetings since word of the resignations got out, chastising commissioners for not looking into the matter, and sometimes making accusations of allowing certain people to have undue influence. 

The accusations boiled over when one of the resigned planners, Justin Tabor, sent an open letter to the city, blaming outsized influence from former City Manager Adam Boukari and pressures to ensure developments were recommended for approval, for his resignation. 

In the meantime, the city has been operating with one planner, Carson Crockett, who has been with the city since 2023. Crockett reported to the commission on Monday that he currently has 31 development review applications under his purview, plus administrative tasks. He said the normal number of applications per planner would be five. 

Out of concern for the planning department’s shorthandedness, Assistant City Manager Rodolfo Valladares brought to the commission a recommendation to engage Jacobs Engineering for staff extension services during the transition period while the city searches for new planning staff. 

According to the plan, Jacobs Engineering would have provided one on-site planner to be in Alachua three days a week, and an additional staff member to be available remotely. The Jacobs employees would review and prepare staff reports, present them at public hearings, and fill other duties, with a cost to the city estimated at $160,000 for six months of service. 

The city attorney spoke up after Valladarez’s presentation, complaining that she had not been consulted about the plan. She said she supported the idea, and there was nothing wrong with the contract, but said as much as she is involved in aspects of the planning department, she should have been consulted on the path forward. 

Crockett also spoke, telling the commission that it takes a long time to learn the city’s code—he had a month of nothing but reviewing Alachua code before he worked on an application, and the Jacobs solution would mean a large investment of time and learning that would be lost at the end of the six months. 

Commissioner Dayna Williams made a motion to approve staff’s recommendation to contract Jacobs for the six months, seconded by Commissioner Jennifer Ringersen. 

Before the vote, public commenters lined up again to urge the commission against what citizen Bryan Buescher called a “poorly thought-out solution to a very complex problem.” 

The motion failed in a 2-3 vote, with Commissioner Williams and Mayor Gib Coerper the only votes in favor. 

At the end of the meeting, City Manager Mike DaRoza addressed the open letter from Tabor during comment time. 

“Mr. Tabor’s letter, saying what I consider to be completely false and unfounded accusations, that I as a city manager [am] or have been improperly influenced by anyone is not only appalling to me, but it’s a direct attack on my integrity and my character. You’re only as good as that. I’ll stand on mine every single minute of every single day,” DaRoza said. 

DaRoza said he would work to improve communication, and that Tabor is a knowledgeable planner, but said Tabor’s letter should not be taken as gospel. He said he speaks to “virtually scores” of citizens, developers, engineers, business owners and others, each of whom lobbies for their interests, but his goal is always to pursue what is best for the city. 

After DaRoza spoke, Rush used her time during attorney comment to go further into detail about cases of quasi-judicial hearings on controversial planning applications where she felt blindsided and was unable to prepare appropriately for the legal proceedings. 

Rush said she stands by DaRoza’s intention to do what is best for Alachua without undue influence, but she complained that he does not give her the time she needs to call in experts for contested hearings of applications such as the Tara developments near Mill Creek Sink. 

“He’s the fourth city manager, has the least experience, and I hear from him the least,” Rush said. “It should be the exact opposite, because this stuff is technical.” 

DaRoza said he did not want to get into an argument, but clarified his point of view on the Tara April Development, which has been delayed a few times. 

Commissioners fired back during their comment time, chastising Rush for her long outburst and defending DaRoza. 

“[Rush has] never told me that there was a quasi-judicial hearing that she’s never been told about,” Williams said. “And for her to sit here and air this out without telling us, without confronting the city manager in a one-on-one meeting is despicable, and I will not have that happen in our city.” 

Ringersen also expressed disappointment in the public, saying she is tired of people being negative and coming to insult commissioners. She implored citizens to check their facts before airing grievances and reiterated a few of their recurring questions to get answers from DaRoza. 

Commissioner Shirley Green Brown said the commissioners need to all look at themselves and figure out their goals for the city, and address problems with transparency, honesty and integrity. 

“Tonight, everyone saw that we’ve got some issues, and the only way we can solve them is to address them,” Green Brown said. 

Editor’s note: Bryan Buescher’s name was misspelled in this story and the location of the Tara developments was incorrect.