'You're supposed to be dead': Gainesville city officials argue with themselves, audience

Just a day removed from a fiery meeting that discussed the elimination of Gainesville police’s K-9 unit, city officials found themselves sparring among themselves, including one caught on a hot-mic moment lashing out at a private citizen.

Commissioner Reina Saco, a local attorney who was first elected in 2020, went head-to-head with Mayor Lauren Poe and Commissioner Cynthia Chestnut multiple times during the most recent City Commission meeting.

In what is usually a casual adoption of the budget at the start of a meeting, a member from the public can be heard chastising the commission, to which Saco tells them to “shush,” spurring a rebuke and back-and-forth between her and Poe.

The dysfunction resulted in an abrupt intermission, though audio from the recorded meeting could still be heard by those watching live.

Former commission candidate and frequent critic Jo Beaty can be heard telling the officials “Hey, you’re not supposed to be talking.”

Saco responds.

“And you’re supposed to be dead already, so why're you still there?” she said before the audio is cut off.

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The moment caused a stir on social media from critics, some of whom are calling for the elected leader’s resignation. Saco has since told The Gainesville Sun that she misspoke, adding that she was fired up and meant to say Beaty “should be dead silent" and that Beaty has filmed her and followed her into the parking lot on occasion.

Beaty, 73, said she didn’t hear the comment in person but has received numerous calls from others who did.

What followed throughout the rest of the meeting was much of the same discourse, with Chestnut taking aim at Saco and calling out staff members for sharing concerns about issues. She later appeared to ignore her involvement in the discord for a number of subjects, including debates over the appointments of advisory board members.

“I am so embarrassed for this city,” Chesnut said. “This has been a day of embarrassments.”

Commissioners' travel to Israel part of spending concerns

Chestnut opened the door for debate among her colleagues when she took issue with commissioners Adrian Hayes-Santos, David Arreola and Poe taking a trip to Israel and the West Bank next month as part of the city’s Sister City program.

She cited concern for fiscal responsibility and accountability, as all three officials leave office Jan. 5.

“On its face, this trip has more to do with travel and recreation or other personal reasons for the participants than any meaningful benefit to the public, since – within a month – you will no longer serve as elected officials able to influence the Sister City program or City public policy,” Chestnut wrote in a letter to Poe last week.

Each fiscal year, which runs from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30, commissioners are allotted a $5,000 travel and education allowance. Chestnut said she wanted that allowance to be limited to Oct. 1 for outgoing commissioners, but that vote failed.

The commissioners defended the trip, saying that they are elected to serve their full term and didn’t plan to stop working on behalf of Gainesville simply because their replacements were elected two weeks ago.

Poe, Hayes-Santos and Arreola have all said that the purpose of the trip involves the MuniWorld conference while continuing to develop a relationship with Gainesville’s sister cities. Arreola has since said that he’s now unsure if he’s even attending.

The trip is estimated to cost taxpayers between $1,500 to $2,000 and wouldn’t impact the travel budget for incoming commissioners. None, however, could say what the trip’s total cost would be or roughly how much could be expensed afterward.

“You’re spending our money at a time when the auditor general doesn’t have your (financial) reports from the last year that were due June 30,” Beaty told the commission. “I don’t see any public purpose that could be served by three of you leaving for Israel during the beginning of December.”

Using city resources for personal gain

Before the discussion was voted on, Saco said she felt that there should also be a conversation on how some commissioners use staff time and resources outside of obvious city purposes.

“Staff brought it to my attention that some commissioners were using their resources for personal projects outside of city resources, and I do believe that needs to be addressed,” she said without naming anyone in particular.

Suspecting that Saco was aiming at her, Chestnut acknowledged asking staff to create a video where she greeted an African Methodist Episcopal Church conference in Gainesville, adding that Black commissioners have different expectations in the community than those of white and Hispanic officials.

“As a Black commissioner, if anyone of note dies in this community, we are asked to bring a proclamation, a resolution,” Chestnut said.

Saco said she was merely asking that guidelines be created toward greater transparency in the way city officials use public resources and wasn’t attacking anyone.

“I made no mention of name or event, but I appreciate Commissioner Chestnut bringing forward that incident and explaining herself,” she said.

Chestnut then asked city employees who shared concerns to speak up and singled out City Auditor Ginger Bigbie for taking issue with the video, a claim Bigbie quickly rejected.

Bigbie clarified that staff members and charter officers had a discussion about the requested video from Chestnut, who has made similar demands from staff since being elected. The group agreed that a policy should be in place for when such issues arise.

City Manager Cynthia Curry said she felt Chestnut's request was reasonable and appropriate.

Historic preservation board

Commissioners Desmon Duncan-Walker and Chestnut later took issue with Saco questioning the credentials of a candidate for the historical preservation board, signaling that staff was concerned by the documents submitted.

Chestnut argued that elected leaders are barred from speaking to city employees about board applicants and that staff members should be forced to openly relay those concerns to the entire commission publicly, adding that Saco was on a “terror path.”

City policy, however, only states that elected leaders can't direct action from staff.

“If staff has a concern, it’s my job to bring that concern forward,” Saco said. “And I will not be shamed … because I brought forward a valid concern,” while also adding that a city employee resigned earlier this year citing mistreatment from Chestnut.

“What I did is not go off on a ‘terror path,’ that’s unnecessary … but I understand that with age a lot of our filter gets lost,” she added, while looking at Chestnut.

After the comments, Poe finally interjected by saying to Saco that the behavior was not productive for the decision-making process.

“You have allowed her to run over this whole meeting, and I’m trying to speak and you’ve allowed her to insult me,” Saco said back to Poe.

Other officials said they hope they can move forward from the meeting and find a resolution to best serve the city moving forward.

“I think passions got a little out of control at the meeting and that has happened too often over the years at our commission,” said Ward, who will become mayor in January. “I hope that we can have a useful conversation as a commission and reset going forward so that we can better serve our neighbors.”

Javon L. Harris is a local government and social justice reporter for The Gainesville Sun. He can be reached by phone at (352) 338-3103, by email at jlharris@gannett.com or on Twitter @JavonLHarris_JD.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Gainesville, Florida officials spar with personal attacks at meeting