The Gainesville City Commission and Alachua County Board of County Commissioners will hold a joint meeting at 1 p.m. Monday in the City Hall Auditorium. 

The joint commissions will discuss Florida’s homeless camping bill, Wild Spaces Public Places projects, the two-year One Nation One Project program and the agreement for Gainesville to pay for Alachua County’s streetlights.  

The city of Gainesville has paid for the electricity to power streetlights in unincorporated Alachua County since the 1970s. The agreement covered Gainesville’s use of Alachua County property.  

The agreement has been updated through the years. The 2022 version establishes that GRU will pay for the electricity and then reduce the general services contribution to Gainesville general government to recoup the funds. General government would expect the decrease in revenue and the two sides of the house would true-up the exact amount at the end of the fiscal year.

Monday’s meeting will bring the decades-long agreement up for discussion.  

In the backup documents, Gainesville notes that Alachua County should pursue an agreement with GRU to cover the streetlight costs.  

“As the streetlight and fire hydrant reimbursement is in exchange for the benefits of City utility property located within Alachua County, the reimbursement should no longer come from the General Fund nor be paid by the City of Gainesville as the [general government] derives no benefit from this arrangement,” the backup says. “The benefit is with GRU for the location of their facilities within property in the unincorporated area.” 

At the time of the agreement, GRU and the general government were the same entity. Since the creation of the GRU Authority, all parties have sought to clarify responsibilities and procedures moving forward. General government is saying it gets no benefit with land in the unincorporated area and shouldn’t be involved.

But the utility has said it’s a contract that the general government signed and the 2022 version outlines the procedure. The cost of the streetlights is around $1.3 million annually. 

The city of Gainesville has passed an ordinance that prohibits sleeping or camping on public property. The ordinance comes because of Florida House Bill 1365. 

Alachua County has also asked that the Florida Legislature clarify the roles of counties and cities in that bill. Alachua County and Gainesville have addressed homelessness jointly in the past and through separate approaches more recently. 

The city of Gainesville is asking that the county use Wild Spaces Public Places (WSPP) funds set aside for joint projects on a roadway and a fire station.  

The city wants to redesign NE 9th Street to eliminate the parking bay and add protected bike lanes from University Avenue to NE 23rd Avenue. 

The city is also working on plans to build a Southwest Public Safety Center. That quadrant of Gainesville is currently served by a temporary fire station past its life expectancy. The center would include community meeting space, storage space for Public Works and eventually a police annex.  

Gainesville recently finished its two-year One Nation One Project program. It will give an update to Alachua County on lessons learned and best practices concerning community arts and wellbeing programs.  

You can view the full agenda at the city of Gainesville website. 

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to add information about the 2022 version of the streetlight agreement.