The City Commission meeting started with disagreement over the Chamber of Commerce ad hoc committee studying Gainesville Regional Utilities.
The City Commission voted Thursday to schedule a workshop on Aug. 13 to provide input to that Energy Study Group. Speaking about the committee, Deborah Bowie, a vice president at he Chamber, said the group was focused on principles of accountability, affordability and transparency.
Commissioner Yvonne Hinson-Rawls, describing herself as “full of fire” after long meetings, said the Chamber’s professed principles sounded like Mayor Ed Braddy’s message on the campaign trail this Spring (affordability, accountability and openness).
“Is all of this the Ed Braddy show?” Hinson-Rawls asked.
“That was a theme to a political campaign and now you are mimicking it,” she said.
Bowie said the Chamber was moving toward more of a policy advocacy role and there was “no attempt to be in a political camp.” The principles, she said, were likely common themes in many political campaigns.
Commissioner Thomas Hawkins said there were other principles the Chamber group could have added- including water conservation and environmental stewardship.
Commissioner Todd Chase then chimed in, saying he felt the conversation was another attempt by some commissioners to “discredit” the Chamber study group. The business concerns were legitimate, he said, since commercial electric rates were well above the state average and slated to rise because of the biomass plant.
As for the idea of the Chamber serving as the “Ed Braddy show.” Braddy said, “I wish I had that power, I clearly don’t.”
He said he felt Chamber group’s principles and his campaign message sounded similar because he listened to public concerns and shaped his campaign around them, “hence the election results.”
Update 2:15 p.m.:
And another item has brought a little more back and forth sniping. Discussing waste hauler WCA’s intention to voluntarily annex into the county, Commissioner Susan Bottcher said it showed what Gainesville had to offer even though Braddy “took pot shots at me” over failed annexation referendums.
Bottcher has been the point person for recent annexation referendums, which failed with at least 80 percent opposition. She described them as “Hindenburg projects.”
“I must have missed the memo that today’s vent at the mayor day,” Braddy responded.
He said Bottcher could learn a lesson he did years ago that he’s “not the center of the universe” as a politician. He said he felt the annexation failed because the city had lost focus on accountability, affordability and openness (back to the campaign slogan).