Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) CEO Ed Bielarski said he’s not surprised by the local public utilities referendum passing on Tuesday but noted that the utility will keep working as normal until a final decision comes on a lawsuit against the referendum.  

City of Gainesville residents approved the measure with 72.6% of the vote—39,305 to 14,863 votes.  

Bielarski said the Yes proponents had a large campaign that posted “Yes for local public utilities” across the town.   

“There were a lot of these buzz words, the dog whistles and things that are thrown out there to indicate that you’re going to lose this and that,” Bielarski said. “Look, my philosophy on all of it is that everyone benefits from lower rates.”   

Bielarski said the Yes campaign failed to point out that GRU will remain a local public utility with a “No vote as well. He said the difference is management through the GRU Authority or the City Commission. Bielarski pointed out his views on the campaign’s messaging on his Facebook page leading up to the election. 

The GRU Authority members are appointed by the governor, but he said GRU will remain local, focused on serving its community.  

The GRU Authority highlighted that the utility’s principal debt is slated to lower by 4% in the next year while electric rates are forecasted to remain flat for the next decade. No rate raises means GRU will get closer to the state average each year as other utilities raise rates.  

Bielarski reiterated what other authority members have asked: What would the City Commission do that we aren’t doing?  

Bobby Mermer, campaign manager for the Yes to Local Public Utilities, said in a post-election statement that residents have voted yes to renewable energy, programs to help lower customer bills, management selected on merit, clean water, money kept in the local economy by “leveling the playing field for local and veteran-owned businesses.” 

“Tonight’s results make it clear: GRU ratepayers want utilities controlled by them, not puppets appointed by Tallahassee,” the letter said.  

Bielarski said the campaign seemed to focus on Gov. Ron DeSantis, a figure already unpopular with Alachua County. In the 2022 governor’s race, DeSantis won only 42% of the vote in Alachua County compared with more than 59% overall.  Alachua County was one of four in Florida that leaned more for Charlie Crist than DeSantis in that race.  

In an exit poll on Tuesday, Gainesville voter Joseph McConville said the GRU Authority probably hasn’t been given enough time to transform the utility and judge based on results. But he said he never liked the idea of the governor interfering with the city’s utility and is happy to vote the authority out.  

“I forgot what normal election bills are like because I’ve lived here for 10 years,” McConville said. “So [I’m] hoping that gets under control.”     

Fellow Gainesville voter Geoff Combs also highlighted the “wild amount” of state interference in Alachua County government.  

Most of the state-level action, spearheaded by Republicans, in Alachua County government, made up primarily of Democrats, has come through the Florida Legislature rather than the executive branch. The bill passed by the Legislature orders the governor to make the GRU Authority appointments.  

GRU Authority Director Craig Carter has said the only interaction with the governor’s office is the notification that he was appointed to the board.  

Bielarski said the vote Yes campaign even called the GRU Authority a MAGA movement at a local voter forum—associations likely to raise support in Gainesville. He said no one raised a campaign on the other side to promote the work of the authority or the reasons it was created.  

Some proponents have noted that an issue with City Commission control is that GRU customers outside city limits have no opportunity to vote for the commissioners who control their utilities.  

According to GRU numbers from this week, 34% of the utility’s customer accounts are outside Gainesville city limits. State Rep. Chuck Clemons, R-Newberry, pointed to this multiple times when advocating for the GRU Authority in Tallahassee.  

Some have said that any referendum should include customers outside city limits, but Gainesville commissioners have said that the city has no ability to issue a referendum outside its borders.  

A hypothetical expanded referendum would need to make up just over 24,000 votes to cover the vote margin. GRU reports 38,839 accounts outside city limits. With multiple voters per account, the outside areas would have enough power to override the city depending on the breakdown of “Yes” to “No” votes.

Regardless, even the current referendum might not result in changes. A temporary injunction approved in October prohibits the city of Gainesville from acting on the referendum results.  

A lawsuit filed by the GRU Authority says the City Commission lacks the power to issue the referendum and change a system put in place by the Florida Legislature. That stance has been backed by Clemons, but he will no longer have the opportunity to file legislation to that effect after reaching his term limit.  

Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward said on Election Day that citizens’ more than 70% support for the referendum amounts to a mandate for Florida leaders. If leaders ignore it, he said it could disenfranchise voters. 

“Our system is supposed to depend, in large measure, on giving the people a voice and listening to that voice,” Ward said. “This is as big a mandate as I’ve seen on anything, and I would hope that that carries weight.”   

An Alachua County judge will hold a hearing on the lawsuit and issue a ruling. That ruling likely won’t come until 2025. Until then, the status quo remains.  

The vote Yes campaign is ready for that ruling and a transition.  

“As we look forward to the orderly transition of GRU governance back to local ratepayers, we want to acknowledge all those who voted No,” Mermer said. “While we disagree on who should control our local public utilities, we share your desire for affordable rates, transparency, and give all ratepayers a voice in GRU governance.” 

Mainstreet compiled its more than 70 stories that cover the creation of the GRU Authority, from February 2023 through July 2024.