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

Gainesville Regional Utilities General Manager Tony Cunningham will keep his job after a motion by a GRU Authority member failed to be taken to a vote.

The governor-appointed GRU Authority board met Wednesday evening and discussed the employment of Cunningham, asking high-ranking GRU employees to express their concerns with his work as well as his role in a delayed bond issuance that will cost ratepayers an extra $2.9 million.

The bill that created the authority, HB 1645, tasks the board members with hiring a CEO to run GRU while Cunningham serves in the interim. Wednesday’s decision keeps Cunningham as CEO.

“I do not have the confidence in you to be the general manager here based off the data and the fact that you've increased debt,” board member James Coats said. “What I see is that someone who doesn't have the education is creating a hostile work environment.”

Coats’ motion to fire Cunningham failed before it went to a vote because it was not seconded by another board member.

Earlier coverage: Lawmaker calls for resignation of Gainesville mayor, GRU general manager

During the meeting Coats passed out binders to fellow board members with documents before asking GRU Chief Financial Officer Claudia Rasnick and Chief Information Officer Walter Banks to sit at the dais and answer questions about Cunningham’s performance.

Much of Banks’ questioning by Coats was focused on an IT agreement presented to the city that Banks decided to remove his name from because he felt it contained inaccurate information.

Banks said he felt uncomfortable discussing Cunningham with the board and he hoped he wouldn’t receive any backlash for the things he said. He emphasized that he believed GRU should be doing more to fix its debt issues.

Rasnick’s discussion with the board was focused on the controversial delay of a bond issuance that has been scrutinized by lawmakers and critics of the Gainesville City Commission.

In a May 11 memo, Rasnick states that Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward "directed" the delay of bonds until after the legislative session ended on May 5. She writes that Cunningham met with Ward on March 15 to discuss issuing $151 million in new bonds for GRU and that he "directed" GRU to hold off until the legislative session ended on May 5.

Ward has said that he didn't think it was wise to move forward at the time, despite risking having to pay a higher amount later due to interest rates and GRU being ready to act.

Rasnick also wrote that GRU finance employees later met with commissioners individually and shared that an unnamed member of the commission — "so as to not violate any Sunshine Laws” — made a directive to hold off on the deal. A majority also agreed it should wait.

Rasnick maintained her position at the meeting that saying Ward “directed” staff was fair, though Cunningham reaffirmed that Ward has no capacity to direct him and that he made the decision himself after seeking advice from the mayor and others.

Rasnick also admitted she was uncomfortable with the questioning in front of Cunningham and said she feared retaliation for the things she said. Cunningham said he was confused why Rasnick and Banks were worried about their jobs considering their working relationships over the years. He assured both that they did not have to worry about getting fired.

In an interview with The Gainesville Sun in October following an Alachua County Legislative Delegation meeting, state Rep. Chuck Clemons said he wants the mayor and Cunningham to resign over the bond deal and called for a full-court investigation.

“I will call for [Cunningham] to resign his position from the Gainesville Regional Utilities because this has gone down,” he said. “There’s been untoward out-of-the-sunshine meetings. I will not rest until those facts are uncovered and seen by all the residents of Gainesville and the state of Florida.”

Despite the criticisms, numerous GRU employees came to the meeting to speak in favor of Cunningham and his work at the utility.

“I will assure you that [Cunningham] is of the highest integrity. You can ask people in the business community, anybody that's worked with him before, he truly is. And so I'll have to say I'm pretty shocked at what's occurred tonight, what I feel like is a pretty well scripted, contrived, feels like a trial,” said Richard Hutton, a supervising engineer at GRU. “That really is not befitting of Mr. Cunningham.”

Chair Craig Carter, who does not have the capacity to make motions, said he would have been the third vote to fire Cunningham had someone else seconded Coats’ motion. He said that Cunningham would have to reach certain benchmarks and achievements over the next year if he wanted to keep his job at GRU.

“If you're not our guy, I need to know now. If you're our guy, we're going forward. But there's no going back. You will never be, in my opinion, a GRU employee again,” Carter said. “It seems that GRU is making concessions time and time again, and that that concerns me. And if you're going to be our guy, I would really like you to have a black eye or two.”

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Motion by GRU Authority member to fire GRU General Manager fails