Santa Fe College Hosts Alachua County Legislative Delegation Meeting
Thursday afternoon, Santa Fe (SF) College hosted the Alachua County Legislative Delegation, consisting of Representative Chuck Brannan (R-District 10), Senator Jennifer Bradley (R-District 6), Senator Stan McClain (R-District 9), Representative Chad Johnson (R-District 22), and Representative Yvonne Hinson (D-District 20). The officials will represent Alachua County in the upcoming Florida legislative session.
A protest was originally planned for the meeting over Johnson’s proposed bill to give the Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) Authority more control over the utility, but he announced Wednesday he would table it.
Bradley said, “Representative Brannan and I have spent the last three days doing our delegation meetings through four other counties…. Our session starts March 4; however, the session is preceded by what we call committee weeks. We’ve already had one…. In two weeks [there'll be] a committee week, and the first three weeks of February will be committee week. During that time we hear presentations and bills start to move…. There’ll probably be anywhere from 2,000-3,000 bills; if the past few years are any indicator, only a couple hundred of those will pass.”
Bradley said the new Florida Senate President Ben Albritton (R) “has pledged a rural renaissance; he’s from rural Florida, and he’ll be focused on a lot of rural issues.”
Bradley said the Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez (R), being from Miami, would help balance things out.
McClain recently replaced Senator Keith Perry of District 9 and said he wanted to “fill those shoes.”
Senators and House Representatives heard from elected officials first and members of the public second. Local officials were given five minutes to speak, and members of the public were given three minutes to speak.
Brannan introduced SF College President Paul Broadie and thanked him for hosting the delegation.
Broadie said, “SF College is committed to being the talent pipeline for not just Gainesville and Bradford County but the State of Florida. We’re very focused on ensuring that we uplift lives and that we have a transformational impact on our community and our state.”
Broadie thanked the delegation for helping SF College construct the Cellon Institute and qualify for state health insurance. He said it has increased family health insurance coverage for employees from 10% to 42%.
Broadie thanked the senators and representatives for supporting SF College’s charter school, which allows students to leave high school with an associate's degree and industry credentials.
“These students come from all walks of life because there is no GPA requirement,” said Broadie.
Broadie asked the delegation to support SF College with redeveloping existing buildings and developing a workforce training and innovation center near the SF Blount Center in Downtown Gainesville.
Eighth Judicial Circuit State Attorney Brian Kramer told the delegation his circuit is not eligible for several funding initiatives held by the Florida Prosecuting Attorney’s Association. The Eighth Judicial Circuit doesn’t qualify for the association’s cost area differential or underfunded circuits initiative.
Kramer said the Eighth Judicial Circuit has seen a decrease in victim advocates from 12 to six due to funding shortages. The circuit had grant funding from the Victims and Crime Act, but it ran short. Kramer said that victim advocates are a communication lifeline and that he needs the delegation’s help with rebuilding a full staff of victim advocates.
Eighth Judicial Circuit Public Defender Stacey Scott said funding for witness travel, depositions, and other litigation case expenses hasn’t increased in over five years.
“The fee for every expert is up. The fee for transcribing depositions is up,” said Scott. She asked the delegation to assist her office’s deficits.
Newly elected Alachua County Sheriff Chad Scott requested the delegation’s support in funding for a study of the Alachua County Jail.
Scott said he's focused on recruitment and retention and asked for help in increasing deputy salaries.
Scott said, “We are trying to attract a new type of officer; you know, the younger kids, and wage is base, so if I had to ask for any request, that would be a request [for] wages.”
Alachua County Property Appraiser Legal and Legislative Coordinator Ernso Louissaint represented the property appraiser's office in Ayesha Solomon’s absence.
Louissaint asked the delegation for support in the low-income senior assessment freeze. This would assess values for property owners receiving the current low-income senior exemption. Louissaint said it wouldn’t have a significant tax revenue impact, affecting 2% of properties while assisting vulnerable populations.
Louissaint also asked for support in a tax exemption for surviving spouses of paraplegics. Louissaint said it would allow a deceased paraplegic person’s property tax exemption to carry over to their living spouse if the spouse doesn’t remarry or dispose of the property.
Alachua County School Board Chair Sarah Rockwell asked for an increase in teacher salaries and a 5% increase to the base student allocation. Rockwell said Alachua County schools need an increase in funding for the Workforce Development Capitalization Incentive Grant Program.
GRU General Manager Bielarski didn’t ask the delegation for support in any initiatives by the utility, and he spent his five minutes talking about what GRU has done since the Authority’s establishment in October 2023.
Alachua County Board of Commissioners Chair Charles “Chuck” Chestnut IV told the delegation, “We have three priorities this year. (1) Funding for the Newnans Lake Improvement Initiative…. (2) Funding for Archer Road’s expansion…. [and] (3) jail facility improvement.”
Chestnut told the delegation, “We are committed to working with you to secure the necessary funds.”
Alachua City Manager Mike DaRoza asked the delegation for help with expanding their wastewater treatment facility amidst their growing population. DaRoza said, “We’re ahead of the state mandate as far as 80% concurrency. We’re probably at about 60% or less capacity in that plant now, but because of the concurrency, we wanna get ahead of that. The City [of Alachua] has approved funding for about [$250,000] to implement a study to expand that plant.”
Archer City Commissioner Fletcher Hope told the delegation Archer is partnering with Newberry to construct a wastewater treatment facility that would serve both communities and asked for help funding the project.
Newly hired Hawthorne City Manager Robert Thompson said their city’s wastewater treatment plant is decades old and asked for help upgrading their facility.
Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward said he was proud of increasing salaries for Gainesville Police Department (GPD) officers by 20%.
Ward said, “If we make it to this Sunday,” Gainesville will have gone eight months without a murder.
From July, 2024 through September, eight people in Gainesville were shot, and they all survived. There were two dozen incidents of gunshots being fired.
Ward said Gainesville has achieved nearly a 50% reduction in pedestrian deaths and called Gainesville one of the safest places in Florida to be a pedestrian or cyclist.
According to a TV20 article, on January 2, Matthew Umanos and his dog were killed while walking at the intersection of Northeast 16th Ave and 7th St.
According to the Alachua Chronicle, another pedestrian was hit on University Ave and Main St just after midnight on New Year's. The victim was transported to the hospital and is expected to survive.
Ward asked for help funding the Southwest Public Safety Services Center and a new GPD property and evidence building.
Grace MarketPlace Operations Advocate Michele Lesure asked the delegation to maintain their current funding for the Homeless Continuum of Care and to establish reoccurrence on homeless challenge grants.
Grant Bernstein with UF’s Student Policy Forum said the delegation needs to promote change on Florida’s law allowing physical punishments in schools. Bernstein said public records requests show that more often than not students are physically disciplined for minor offenses like being tardy and that disabled students are disproportionately affected.
Florida law allows teachers in districts permitting corporal punishment to physically punish students without parental consent. Bernstein said this contradicts Florida’s image as a parental rights state. “There have been some instances where parents have not been asked before their kids were struck in school,” said Bernstein.
UF Grad student Derek LaMontagne campaigned for the grad student community Maguire Village and University Village to not be demolished. He said UF is destroying the village because they’ve been given “bad information” and that $10 million in taxpayer dollars has been repurposed for demolition.
Former City Commission candidate Jim Konish argued that the GRU Authority is legally separate from the city and said the delegation should re-table the bill to give the GRU Authority further control over the utility.
President of Gainesville’s branch of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and newly elected Gainesville City Commissioner James Ingle said Florida is diverse, and different counties and cities have different problems and opportunities.
