Gainesville Regional Utilities Authority Resigns Amidst Litigation

Updated April 25 | Chair Craig Carter said at the latest GRU board meeting that he would not reapply.

All members of the Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) authority have resigned due to a lawsuit challenging their appointments. 

At the GRU authority and city commission joint meeting on February 28th, the only authority member to speak was chair Craig Carter. Shortly after, the upcoming GRU authority meeting was canceled.

Their reasoning for silence becomes clearer with a lawsuit filed by Jeffery Shapiro and President of Gainesville Residents United, Robert Hutchinson, stating that Gov. Ron DeSantis did not have the authority to appoint multiple members of the board who lived outside of city limits and that he did not give proper notice of the appointment process. 

Gainesville Residents United posted a statement on their Facebook page, saying, “Today, the rule of law won out.”

Gainesville city commissioner Bryan Eastman condemned the board on X (formerly Twitter), stating, “The entire DeSantis appointed GRU board just resigned due to failure to follow the law that [they passed].”

DeSantis opened applications and will appoint new authority board members in May once the resignation goes into effect.