Lawsuit Filed Against City of Gainesville and GRU to Stop Biomass Plant
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – APRIL 4, 2012
Gainesville Citizens CARE, Inc.
GAINESVILLE CITIZENS CARE INC. FILES LAWSUIT ASKING COURT TO DECLARE THE MORE THAN $3 BILLION BIOMASS CONTRACT INVALID (Press Release)
The public interest group Gainesville Citizens Care, Inc. has filed a lawsuit in Circuit Court asking that a more than $3 billion Power Purchase Agreement approved by the Gainesville City Commission and negotiated by Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) be declared to be in violation of the Florida Government in The Sunshine Law, and therefore void and without effect.
(Call 352-213-9000 or email [email protected] to request a PDF copy of the lawsuit.)
On May 12, 2008 the Gainesville City Commission authorized GRU General Manager Robert Huzninger to finalize an electric power generation contract with an out-of -state limited liability company then known as Nacogodches Power, LLC., to construct and operate a 100 megawatt wood-burning electric power generation facility, pursuant to specific instructions:
1. The contract should be for no more than 20 years.
2. The contract should not exceed the cost proposed in Nacocoches' winning bid, the financial details of which had been revealed to individual city commissioners but kept secret from the public
3. The contract should contain a "back door out clause" to allow the contract to be cancelled after its last regulatory approval and before the commencement of construction in the event the economics of the deal turned out to be different than predicted.
Hunzinger subsequently appointed an ad hoc advisory committee to serve as a negotiating team that would make recommendations for finalizing the contract.. The ad hoc committee headed by GRU Assistant General Managers Ed Regan and John Stanton held unnoticed meetings in 2008 and 2009 from which the public was excluded.
The committee negotiated the final terms of the contract, and recommended changes that Hunzinger in turn recommended be approved by the city commission.
The new terms:
1. Extended the contract to 30 years, rather than the 20 years authorized by the city commission.
2. Increased the annual cost of the contract percent more than 25 percent beyond the amount authorized by the city commission.
3. Removed from the contract an originally negotiated "back door out" clause, contrary to the unanimous vote of the city commission.
4. Contracted with a newly organized company owned 51 percent by principals of the limited liability company Nacogdoches Power, LLC, the only company with whom the city commission had authorized Hunzinger to finalize the contract.
Hunzinger and members of the committee then met privately with individual city commissioners to seek commission approval of the committee's recommendations. On April 29, 2009 Hunzinger signed the contract that had been negotiated by the committee without public disclosure of any of the terms.
On May 7, 2009, the Gainesville City Commission approved the committee's recommendations, crystallizing decisions made without public notice and out of the Sunshine.
The lawsuit asks that the contract negotiated behind closed doors in violation of the Sunshine Law be declared void and without legal effect, and the Court enjoin any further implementation of the agreement.
Gainesville Citizens Care Attorney Marcy LaHart is available for further comment, at 352-224-5699.
Gainesville citizens care board member jJo Beaty is also available to speak to the media about the lawsuit.
Barbara Petersen, president of the First Amendment Foundation, said she believes the suit has grounds.
“The state gives us a constitutional right of access to the meetings of the City Commission and it applies to the entire deliberative process,” Petersen said. “If the City Commission defers any part of that deliberative process to the staff, then our right of access applies.” (SUN Article)
