A second Alachua City Commission meeting confused residents Monday after the meeting was abruptly cancelled because three commission members, including Mayor Walter Welch, weren’t present.
Vice Mayor Jennifer Ringersen and Commissioner Shirley Green Brown were also absent, while commissioners Jacob Fletcher and Jackson Youmas attended.
The city’s ordinance doesn’t allow business to be conducted at commission meetings without at least three commissioners present.
The no-shows come just two weeks after a Sept. 14 city commission meeting in which Welch abruptly killed Fletcher’s motion to revisit a moratorium, or pause, on data center development. The pause was proposed by Ringersen earlier that night, and Fletcher was unable to get specifics from the rest of the commission. He moved for the board to further hash them out at Monday’s meeting.
However, when Fletcher reminded Welch a few minutes later that he had to second the motion to delay the vote to Monday’s meeting, Welch replied with, “It died.” Welch’s response garnered reactions from residents and Fletcher because the mayor doesn’t have the power to deny a motion before it’s seconded and voted on.
During an interview Sept. 15, Commissioner Jacob Fletcher said many Alachua residents have called moratoriums “a good step to figuring out the next step.”
The Sept. 14 data center discussion resembled one step in a long process requiring community participation, he said.
“I think there [are] more conversations to be had,” Fletcher said. “A moratorium, again, is only a Band-Aid.”
He said the next step will require the commission to listen to Alachua residents and ensure the city’s regulations align with their concerns.
Following the Sept. 14 meeting, attendees expressed confusion over whether the data center moratorium would be further discussed at Monday’s meeting. It was on the agenda leading up to the meeting.
Zoe King, a transit maintenance manager for Gainesville’s Regional Transit System, stayed over an hour after the meeting’s cancellation Monday to speak with Fletcher, Youmas and fellow residents. More than 70 people attended the meeting, and King said most had come to comment on data centers.
“We were told that the draft for the moratorium would be presented today to the commissioners,” King said.
Following its cancelation, the meeting was rescheduled to Oct. 5, when the commission plans to discuss and vote on the meeting’s agenda items. The city’s budget, a data center moratorium and a contract between the city and Duke Energy were among items on the agenda.
“This is becoming a game,” she said.
To King, it feels like every time an important topic is scheduled to be discussed, something pushes it back. It’s caused residents to lose faith in the city, she added.
On Sept. 8, a planning and zoning board committee meeting, during which data centers were set to be discussed, was canceled for the same reason: a lack of board attendance.
Fletcher and Youmas met with citizens outside Alachua City Hall on Monday to discuss the meeting's cancellation, its rescheduling and to catch up with supporters.
Deborah Bagley, a 60-year-old Alachua resident, questioned the qualifications of some of Alachua’s public officials, including Matthew Webster, who was appointed to the planning and zoning board in August.
Webster is the son-in-law of Virginia Johns, a former planning and zoning board member whose term expired a month before Webster assumed the role, according to Bagley and a Facebook post by Our Alachua Water.
“[Webster] has monetary gain, so they knew that he would vote yes on things related to development,” said Bagley, adding that Webster’s construction company, Sterling Builders Group, would benefit from more development.
A special planning and zoning board meeting is scheduled for Oct. 6 at 6 p.m., where the board is scheduled to discuss permits, site plan proposals and the city’s comprehensive plan.
Contact Christian Haas at chaas@alligator.org. Follow him on X @ChristianH58745.
Christian is an environmental reporter with The Alligator, and studies journalism at the University of Florida. He is a fourth-year student who prefers to spend his free time trying new and random things, cooking, reading, watching TV, or hiking.
