Konish: Why Craig Carter should immediately resign from the GRU Authority

Letter to the editor

At the June 12 GRU Authority meeting, Carter, despite previously chiding other members for surprise motions that weren’t on the agenda, made a motion to adopt the agenda with “one small modification.” He proceeded to make four motions.

Carter referred to the events of the June 10 meeting as “fun.” There, he said the Governor can “cram” his appointment. He mentioned a private, unnoticed meeting with Ed Bielarski, out of the Sunshine, and claimed it only pertained to the gentlemen’s respective “personal feelings” for each other. Carter then claimed that was something “which we are allowed to do,” yet he had previously claimed that Bielarski’s election as Chair was “orchestrated.” Anyone can go back and look at the faces of Carter and Lawson when Bielarski became Chair of the Authority. Having lost control of the Authority, Carter melted down.

Carter claimed the “attorney” confirmed the impropriety of Bielarksi’s election as chair. The attorney in question was Gainesville City Attorney Daniel Nee, not Authority consultant Scott Walker (I asked). Carter appears to believe Nee still has a role – which he does not. Carter stated, “I did call the governor’s office and apologize.” I believe that Mr. Carter has been orchestrated by the political bosses on NW 8 ^th Ave for ten years. His “Team Carter” realtor sign graced the DEC headquarters on NW.8 ^th Avenue for months.

After Carter said he had been warned by the increasingly competent Clerk that “it may not be prudent to state it in the form of making a motion,” Carter previewed his three motions. He seemed to be under extreme duress. At the June 10 meeting, he had his hands all over Bielarski in a display unlike I have ever seen.

Carter’s first motion on June 12 was to terminate Cunningham. It passed 4-1, with Eric Lawson dissenting. Carter stated: “The reason for this motion is so the utility could move forward. I’ve talked to headhunters. They said we’re not going to get anybody until we are stable – bring in an interim, bring in a change manager…”.

Carter stated, “My next motion would be following this meeting tonight, Mr. Ed Bielarski resigns from this board and takes the position as interim General Manager/CEO of this utility, which is legal, as long as you’re not on the board.” This second motion passed 5-0. I believe that nothing about this was legal.

Carter continued, “I would also want that Eric Lawson becomes Chair of this board , and David [Haslam], you stay vice chair”.

Carter gushed, “I wanted to turn the ship very slowly. That’s been my preference. I’m feeling the sense that the ship needs to be turned faster for a lot of reasons… and quite frankly, as I helped jerk the wheel a little bit tighter, I felt relief…”. There is nothing in HB 1645 about slow-jamming its implementation or doing only what feels good to one member at a point in time.

Carter made a third motion to name Lawson as Chair and then clarified that he wanted to have Bielarski resign after the meeting “effective immediately.” Carter then stated, “This board expects Chair Bielarski to be General Manager/CEO interim.” As he has consistently done, Carter seems unaware that the Authority is a collegial body not beholden to what makes Carter feel great.

Bielarski then stated, “No, I certainly would resign to take the position”. Bielarski then jumped from an unpaid Authority member to a six-figure-plus salary.

Carter then stated, “Mr. Bielarski and I never talked about this before, he’s probably more blown away by this than anybody on this board, so… I’m an ethics freak up here”.

This third motion passed 5-0. Before the vote, Carter revealed more:

“If you don’t mind, Mr. Chair, I do have some comments. Someone said I’m trying to help the City. I’m not trying to help the City. You know, my comments before about the transfer were to try to protect the ratepayers that live in the city. Just to be clear with that, we do need to move forward. And it’s clear and obvious that every meeting, something’s going to come up about trying to get rid of Mr. Cunningham. I called him. I talked to him about it. I sought counsel on this… I talked to pastors. I am doing this for Tony. I talked to him 30 minutes before this meeting. I cried on the phone. He’s become my friend. He’s become my brother in Christ. I don’t want to thank you for this; this is one of the most shameful nights of my life. But it needs to happen because he needs to be able to go home and put his head down and be done with this and go on and get another job. This board needs to go forward, just like with the City and the transfer, we need to go forward. If we’re bickering back and forth for the next five years, we’re never going to help this utility, and we were charged with that job. So, this is no slight on Mr. Cunningham. I’ve already asked for forgiveness, and it’s not a joy tonight at all, and I love you, man, I really do.”

Since the very first meeting, Carter abused his position as Authority Chair. The Chair sets the agenda and runs the meeting – and that is all, just like our “weak mayor.” Carter disenfranchised and attacked James Coats openly and behind the scenes. Carter was a bully and untethered to the Charter he swore to uphold.

There is no provision in HB1645 to allow a delay in implementing the required changes on the basis of fear over what the City Commission might do. Lawson had suggested it was “too expensive” to look for a new, permanent GRU CEO/GM. He felt Cunningham might “be our guy.” Cunningham was grandfathered only – never appointed to interim or permanent GRU CEO/GM.

The notion that these events were not formulated out of the Sunshine strains one’s imagination.

Ironically, when Coats put Cunningham “on trial” over falsified cost allocation reports regarding GRU IT services furnished to the City, he, like Carter, made a motion to terminate Cunningham last fall. There was no second.

Carter’s appointment to finish Robert Karow’s term says a lot. That is the shortest term, expiring October 1, 2024. If Carter resigns, we can avoid the 2-2 split that stymied the initially-appointed Authority, and this hopefully would facilitate the quick executive appointment of two replacement members.

The Governor is like a manager in a baseball dugout subbing people in. When each initial term is complete (regardless of how many people are appointed before the term is complete), the next round of appointments will be for four years each.

Jim Konish, Gainesville

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