Thursday’s lengthy session marked Ed Braddy’s first regular City Commission meeting as Gainesville mayor.
At it, some of his political supporters expressed frustration and disappointment that he was not moving fast enough to keep campaign trail pledges related to the biomass contract.
Campaigning, Braddy said the fuel adjustment levelization fund of some $24 million to cushion the looming rate increases related to the biomass plant was built up through overcharging electric customers and the money should be returned to them. He also said the city should pursue a more hard line stance than arbitration over a contract dispute and seek to terminate the biomass contract.
In emails and phone calls before Thursday’s meeting and during the 6 p .m. public comment time slot, opponents of the biomass contract who supported Braddy’s candidacy came to the Commission as they have multiple times over the last several months to demand a refund of the fuel “overcharge.”
After public comment, Braddy and Commissioner Todd Chase reiterated their opinions that it was improper to charge current electric customers to off set future rate increases- the first of which is set to hit in the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. There was also discussion of the fact that the fuel adjustment charge is an issue the Commission’s Regional Utilities Committee will soon discuss. As of Thursday, Chase is not only a member but the chair of that three person committee and Braddy is also a member.
But neither Braddy nor Chase pushed for a vote for the refund opponents of the biomass contract sought. Chase said the issue has been discussed “ad nauseam” and he did not intend to make a motion he knew would not pass. He said voters who disagreed with the use of the fuel adjustment charge could change the complexion of the Commission at the ballot box.
Hours later, during the next public comment period, Braddy supporter and biomass contract opponent Debbie Martinez said she was disappointed in the lack of action on the fuel adjustment request, even if a motion was doomed to ultimately fail.
“We don’t expect much from the majority of this Commission but we expect more from you,” Martinez told Braddy.
She said Gainesville Regional Utilities could now continue its “shell game” of keeping rate increases to $10.56 per 1,000 kilowatt-hours when the biomass palnt comes online instead of the full financial impact hitting electric rates.
During the meeting, Braddy also received this email from supporter Wilbur Holloway:
“Hi Ed, your FoB in your campaign was to get us out of the biomass contract. The base is disquieted by your lack of action in your 1st meeting. I am not rushing to judgement with Todd attending the mediation hearings last week, am I missing something? Help me out. Wilbur -”
Earlier this week, Chase attended a closed door mediation hearing in New York City over the biomass contract dispute. The Commission voted last week to send him 4-3 after lengthy debate on the pros and cons of him attending.
GRU General Manager Bob Hunzinger said Thursday that the mediation did not result in an agreement. Citing the advice of legal counsel, he declined to say if the talks resulted in impasse or would continue in the future.
Friday morning, Braddy said he continues to feel that the city is using current ratepayers to subsidize future ratepayers in order to mask the full rate impact of the biomass plant. He said the issue should go through the Regional Utilities Committee, a process he believes can happen within the next two months, and then to the full Commission as a scheduled agenda item.
“You can grandstand on an issue in your first meeting just to make a point or you can try to set good policy,” he said.
Braddy also campaigned that there needed to be more public discussion and transparency on the issue of the biomass contract. One of his first acts as mayor was to call a public Commission meeting on the ongoing arbitration over the contract dispute. That well-attended meeting last Thursday lasted nearly seven hours.