by Bobby Mermer, President, Gainesville Residents United, Inc., Chairperson, Let the Voters Decide, Coordinator, Alachua County Labor Coalition
The Yes Local Public Utilities campaign is announcing victory after Gainesville voters once again chose local control of their community-owned utility.
The campaign is also calling for an end to litigation and an orderly transition of GRU governance back to our elected City Commission.
A whopping 75% of voters supported returning Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) to the ratepayers it serves. With a turnout of 19%, the highest in a city-only election in more than a decade and surpassing the previous record set in the 2009 regular election, Gainesville residents sent a clear message that their utilities must once again be accountable to the people they serve.
This vote builds on the strong mandate from 2024, when nearly 73 percent of voters supported returning GRU to local control. Tonight’s results make it clear: GRU ratepayers want their utilities controlled by them, not by Tallahassee’s puppets.
This victory was powered by a grassroots movement of thousands of ratepayers from every corner of Gainesville.
Community partners including the League of Women Voters, Alachua County Labor Coalition, NAACP, AFL-CIO, Sierra Club, IBEW, Community Weatherization Coalition, and many individual citizens worked together to get this referendum on the ballot and earn this mandate.
Neighbors talked with neighbors, put signs in their yards, called friends, and chipped in small donations. It worked.
This is the beginning of the process to create a GRU that everyone can afford and that works hand-in-hand with our community to ensure Gainesville’s utilities are governed with Gainesville values.
It is now time to begin an orderly transition from the GRU Authority to our elected City Commission, one that honors the will of the voters while keeping the utility strong.
While the campaign is over and the votes are counted, we are not quite past the finish line. The GRU Authority and Boss Bielarski are trying to take away your vote in the Courts. The First District Court of Appeals granted the GRU Authority’s request for an emergency constitutional writ. This means enforcement of the results is on pause until the Appellate Court holds a hearing to determine the final outcome.
Importantly, this is NOT what happened in April, when the results were invalidated due to Judge Wright finding the ballot language misleading. The granting of the emergency writ is a purely procedural action, and unlike with last year’s injunction, does NOT signal the Court believes the GRU Authority is likely to win. We will provide more updates as the legal process continues.