The Joint Legislative Audit Committee (JLAC) voted 6-4 on Oct. 16 to launch a second investigation into conduct with the city of Gainesville, but the vote actually failed due to a committee rule that came to light later.  

State Rep. Mike Caruso, R-Delray Beach, pronounced that the motion passed during the meeting, but an email from state Rep. Yvonne Hayes Hinson, D-Gainesville, to the Gainesville City Commission shows that the vote failed even though no one caught the error at the time.    

Kathy DuBose, coordinator for JLAC, explained the process in an email to Hinson. She said JLAC rules require that a motion must receive a majority of the vote from both the state representatives and the state senators on the committee. Monday’s vote passed with 4-2 House support, but four senators split 2-2.    

The tied senator vote means the motions should have failed despite the overall 6-4 vote.    

Republicans have more members on the committee from both chambers of the Legislature—with a 4-2 majority of representatives and a 3-2 majority of senators—but Sen. Nick DiCeglie, R-Indian Rocks Beach, was absent from the meeting.  

With nearly a week between the error and the correction, media and elected officials assumed the investigations would go forward.

Gainesville Commissioner Bryan Eastman posted on social media his thanks to state Sens. Jason Pizzo, D-Hollywood, and Tracie Davis, D-Jacksonville, for their vote against the motion.  

“Our city has done everything that was asked of us, cutting over 150 positions from our staff and raising taxes,” Eastman said the day of the vote on Twitter. “It’s been painful, but we did it in good faith. Sad to see this plainly partisan outcome.” 

At last week’s JLAC meeting, Rep. Peggy Gossett-Seidman, R-Highland Beach, made the motion that directed the state auditor to conduct a follow-up review of the 18 findings in an audit released in January 2022. The state auditor presented the 18-month review at the meeting.   

The motion also directed the state auditor to investigate the actions and communications of city officials surrounding a decision to delay the issuance of new bonds worth $150 million.  

“In doing this we’d be asking the auditor general to confirm all the actions and interactions of the mayor, the city commissioners, city manager, and the manager of the GRU, and any other members of the GRU,” Gossett-Seidman said while reading from a prepared statement.  

In January 2023, Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) issued a request for bonds needed to run the utility and its finances. Barclays responded with the lowest bid and GRU prepped to finalize the deal in April.   

As the city prepared a debt reduction plan, prompted by JLAC scrutiny, GRU held off on finalizing the agreement with Barclays. When the agreement went through in June, it cost an additional $2.9 million.   

Caruso cited a memo from GRU’s top financial officer Claudia Rasnick, who said Mayor Harvey Ward directed GRU to hold off on the bond issuance until after the Legislature finished its session.   

“I’m at a loss as to why the CFO would say direct,” Ward told lawmakers last week. “I have no capacity to direct.” 

GRU General Manager Tony Cunningham told lawmakers that the City Commission thought the utility should solidify its debt reduction plan before issuing the bonds.