Mayor Says Rights Are Important After Civil Rights Violation
Mayor Harvey Ward has responded to his barring of GnvInfo and a Gainesville taxpayer from a pension plan meeting.
At the September 5, 2024 meeting of the Board of Trustees for the Gainesville General Employees Pension Plan, three members of the public who wished to comment were inadvertently left waiting outside the chamber. This was due to a breakdown in communication between City Hall staff inside the meeting and the new security checkpoint in the building’s lobby.
Had I been aware people were waiting, I would have placed the meeting in recess until everyone had entered. I was not aware. There was no intent on my part, or on the part of City Hall staff, to exclude anyone from the Board of Trustees meeting, and I apologize on behalf of the City of Gainesville.
The trustees meeting was held to receive the fiscal year 2023 actuarial valuation report for the Gainesville General Employees Pension Plan. Business took approximately five minutes and then—with no further items on the agenda and no one in the chamber for public comment– I closed the meeting.
Upon leaving the chamber I learned of the oversight at the security station. To be clear, the individuals who were unable to enter the auditorium in the morning did have the opportunity to participate in the open public comment period for the commission meeting later in the day. The statement that had been prepared for the morning was successfully delivered by one of them before the Gainesville City Commission.
The public’s fundamental right to speak on matters of public concern is of paramount importance to me as mayor and as chair. We are revisiting our procedures for security operations to be certain this never occurs again.
Both the trustees meeting and the commission meeting are available in full on video at this link.
Please feel free to contact my office if there are further questions regarding meeting procedures, this event, or actions taken to remedy this situation.
GnvInfo will be issuing a response shortly.
