GRU Authority votes to search for new general manager despite vote not to fire existing GM

Gainesville Regional Utilities Authority members voted Thursday night to search for a general manager, despite a motion to fire current GM Tony Cunningham that failed last week.

Chair Craig Carter told authority members that he believes the bill that established the authority, HB-1645, requires them to negotiate a contract with a permanent general manager or CEO while Cunningham holds the role in the interim. He said he felt that although they agreed not to fire Cunningham, they needed to negotiate a permanent contract with him or begin a search for a permanent employee.

“This is not an attack,” Carter said. “I want [Cunningham] to put his application in, and we go out to a search and we look at the pool and find out what's best for the ratepayers of the city.”

Carter also said he was uncomfortable with Vice Chair James Coats’ approach to the discussion of Cunninghamn’s employment last week, which some audience members compared to a trial examination. Since that discussion — where Carter suggested they give Cunningham a year to meet certain benchmarks they set out for him —, he said he has taken a closer look at the law that prompted him to request the search.

Cunningham asserted that he will be putting his name forward and despite the search he will continue to do what is best for the ratepayers of GRU.

“This is not going to make me waver in my commitment to our customers and to the utility,” he said. “I am committed to continuing to work with you all as a board and to do that well and do that professionally.”

Thursday night’s meeting touched on the roles of numerous employees including Cunningham, City Attorney Daniel Nee, and the city auditor.

Attorney services

The board also voted unanimously to allow Carter to finish privately negotiating an agreement for interim legal services from Folds and Walker, LLC. Last week Cunningham warned the board that doing so may violate the utility’s procurement procedures, but his comment was ignored.

More: Motion by GRU Authority member to fire GRU General Manager Tony Cunningham fails

The Gainesville-based law firm has donated to Florida Republicans in the past including Sen. Keith Perry, Ashley Moody, and the creator of the bill that established the GRU Authority, state Rep. Chuck Clemons.

A public records request submitted to the city by the Gainesville Sun shows the contract was negotiated over the phone or in person between Carter and the firm, as no emails or written messages were provided with the exception of a draft of the contract.

The drafted contract outlines the following duties of the firm:

• Attending all regular meetings of the Authority

• Attending all special meetings of the Authority

• Preparing resolutions when requested by the Chair or majority of the Authority

• Preparing and/or reviewing of all contracts

• Providing legal advice to the Authority and Authority employees on matters of concern when authorized by the Chair or majority of the Authority

• Monitoring litigation when the Authority is a party but represented by other counsel when requested by the Chair or a majority of the Authority

• Preparing leases

• Providing annual Ethics, Sunshine Law and Public Records training session

• Providing new Authority member orientation sessions (as needed)

• Cooperating and communicating on a routine basis with Authority members and staff to achieve the lawful legislative and policy directives of the Authority.

The contract also outlines the following special services for which the utility would be billed at 80% of the attorneys’ current normal hourly rate.

• Prosecuting or defending litigation involving the Authority for matters which the Firm serves as counsel of record for the Authority that are initiated by a filing in an administrative tribunal or a state or federal court, including all arbitration and mediation proceedings brought under the Administrative Proceedings Act, Public Employees Relations Commission Act, or any other administrative proceedings

• Providing legislative consulting services if requested by the Authority

• Preparing documents related to real property transactions and issuing title insurance commitments and policies if requested by the Authority for real property transactions

• Representing the Authority in all negotiations with third parties and in the acquisition and disposition of real property rights and interests, including accepting or obtaining right- of-way easements, and other conveyances.

• Preparing financing matters and any other services not specifically included above.

Carter and Coats both have said they don’t feel fully comfortable having Nee advise the board or represent it, given his ties to the city commission and his role in a lawsuit against the state for implementing the board.

Nee has emphasized multiple times that his client is the city of Gainesville, which means he works for both governing bodies — the authority and the commission — and that there is no conflict of interest there. He also noted that while the board can hire outside legal counsel and help, only the city attorney can officially represent the authority, per the city’s charter.

“There are no ‘both parties,’ that's the really difficult thing for you to wrap your head around,” Nee said in November. “There's one city, and there’s two governing boards, you are not in competition with each other. We need to get to a place where you’re not in conflict.”

Thursday’s vote determined the authority will not pay more than $50,000 a month to the firm.

Auditing services

The authority also decided Thursday to pause any audits being performed on the utility by the city auditor. They also asked to research the potential for having an internal GRU audit function or to create a service level agreement with the city auditor.

The city’s auditing office was created by special act of the Florida Legislature, largely for the purpose of overseeing GRU. The state attorney in the late 1970s had identified issues with the utility and the office was created to ensure independent reviews of the city, which includes GRU.

GRU staff will bring a recommendation to the authority in the spring about how to proceed with potential auditing efforts.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: GRU Authority to search for a new manager, obtain new legal services