MediaUpdate

​Alachua County’s state representatives listened to local officials and residents’ concerns Monday during the local delegation meeting at Santa Fe College.  

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​The October 7 Alachua County Commission Special Meeting exposed the Commissioners’ total misunderstanding of the role of local government: rather than providing basic services and public safety, our activist commissioners see themselves as saviors while wrapping themselves in a cloak of fake charity, redistributing taxpayer money to people who, in their view, deserve it more than those who produce the goods and services that provide for the needs of the community.

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​Alachua County will stop collecting large electronics (e-waste) curbside starting on Monday, Oct. 20.

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​With all the discussion happening across Florida about local government budgets, Alachua County is joining the conversation through this series: Cents & Sensibility: Alachua County’s Budget in Eight Chapters.

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​The Alachua County Commission will conduct a special meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, at 1:30 p.m., in the Grace Knight Conference Room on the second floor of the Alachua County Administration Building (12 SE 1st St., Gainesville).

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​This year marks the 25th anniversary of the creation of Alachua County Forever, the County’s land conservation program. To celebrate, EPD is offering a series of field trips and events this fall in preparation for its anniversary celebration in December. 

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A letter from commission chair Chuck Chestnut on Wednesday asks for an update on the accounting progress Archer has made since a hidden debt of more than a million dollars was uncovered last year.

Watch this story​.​

​Alachua County is informing residents of an important change to curbside collection services for large electronic waste (e-waste). Starting Monday, Oct. 20, 2025, the County’s waste hauler, GFL (Green For Life), will no longer collect large “e-waste” items left at the curb.

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Florida’s First District Court of Appeal is siding with Alachua County in the legal fight over single-member versus at-large county commission districts.

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​The three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeals in Tallahassee rejected efforts by former Republican state Sen. Keith Perry and three others to block Alachua County from electing its five commissioners through at-large voting, meaning that everyone in the entire county votes for every county commissioner.

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​In an order issued today, the 1st District Court of Appeal (DCA) ruled in favor of Alachua County, which means that County Commissioners will be elected at-large, beginning in 2026.

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​The First District Court of Appeal on Oct. 15 overturned an Alachua County judge's ruling last year that will once again allow all five county commissioners to be elected countywide. 

The appellate court voted unanimously in favor of the county, which appealed Judge Olin Shinholser ruling in October 2024 that a ballot measure on single-member districts set for November 2024 was "unlawful" and in violation of state statute.

The decision will let residents vote for commissioners at-large in November 2026. Under single-member districts only voters who reside in a particular district cast ballots for their commissioner. 

In an interview with The Sun, County Commissioner Ken Cornell said he had not yet read the decision but called it a win for the county.​

“I would consider this a win for the electorate of the county. Again, 72% of them told us on the ballot what they wanted in regards to how they wanted their government represented so this is a win for them,” Cornell said.
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​The measure creating single-member districts in Alachua County was created after House Bill 1493 was filed by then-state House Rep. Chuck Clemons, R-Newberry, and later signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. It passed in November 2022 with about 51.5% of the popular vote.

“Last time I counted, 40 of Florida’s 67 counties are determined by at-large voting. It was a fairly unusual move that a local bill back in 2022 put a charter amendment on the ballot and passed by a narrow margin 51-49 (percent) after a very aggressive and we think misleading campaign was run through lobbyists,” Alachua County spokesperson Mark Sexton.

​Republican groups were accused by many during the 2022 campaign of using misleading quotes and mailers to confuse voters on the topic. Those in favor of single-member districts spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on advertising, while county officials were restricted by law from producing any content that discussed the referendum. 

After the county commission voted to place a referendum reverting back to at-large voting, a group of residents lead by then state Sen. Keith Perry, R-Gainesville, filed for an emergency injunction in an effort to keep the initiative off the ballot.

​The petition argued that Florida statute only allows for a Board of County Commissioners "to submit a proposition calling for single-member representation, and does not authorize the BOCC to submit a proposition calling for at-large representation."

Judge Shinholser wrote in his October 2024 ruling that the 2024 ballot initiative must use the same ballot language as the measure that passed in 2022 that created single-member districts.

"Because the language in the current proposed referendum does not comply with Florida law, any resulting vote will be a legal nullity and not the basis for changing the voting method, if the result is a vote for at large voting," Shinholser wrote.

Shinholser, however, denied the injunction and the referendum went on to garner more than 70% of the vote.

The appellate court in its Oct. 15 decision determined that Florida statute "says nothing about how the proposal to return to at-large voting must be worded."

​​"Had the Legislature wished to include specific language that must be included on the ballot for a return to at-large voting ... it could have done so," the decision says. “Because it did not, the trial court erred in declaring that the 2024 ballot language violated [state statute].

The Alachua County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) directed staff to return with an ordinance that, if passed, would change the commission district maps ahead of the 2026 election.

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​At the October 14 meeting, the Alachua County Commission selected a new map for County Commission districts on a 3-2 vote.

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​As the summer heat dissipates, Florida’s plant communities burst into bloom in a dazzling ‘second spring,’” said Alachua County Environmental Specialist Milo Neelands. “Come meet some of our native wildflowers and pollinators and learn about the Alachua County Forever Program’s restoration efforts on this family-friendly hike.

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​With all the discussion happening across Florida about local government budgets, Alachua County is joining the conversation through this series: Cents & Sensibility: Alachua County’s Budget in Eight Chapters.

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​Alachua County Manager Michele Lieberman recently received the Credentialed Manager designation from ICMA, the International City/County Management Association. Ms. Lieberman is one of over 1,300 local government management professionals currently credentialed through the ICMA Voluntary Credentialing Program.

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