GAINESVILLE, FL (352today.com) – Mayor Harvey Ward has written an apology letter to three members of the public who were left out of a meeting at City Hall.
The letter from Ward says that on September 5 during a meeting of the Board of Trustees for the Gainesville General Employees’ Pension Plan, a “breakdown in communication” between City Hall staff inside the meeting and the new security checkpoint in the building’s lobby “inadvertently” left three people who wanted to comment during the meeting waiting outside of the chamber.
“Had I been aware people were waiting, I would have placed the meeting in recess until everyone had entered,” says Ward. ” I was not aware. There was no intent on my part, or on the part of City Hall staff, to exclude anyone from the Board of Trustees meeting, and I apologize on behalf of the City of Gainesville.”
Ward says the trustees meeting was scheduled to receive the fiscal year 2023 actuarial valuation report for the Gainesville General Employees’ Pension Plan.
According to the mayor, the meeting took about five minutes.
“With no further items on the agenda and no one in the chamber for public comment, I closed the meeting,” says Ward.
Ward says he did not learn of the oversight at the security station until the meeting had ended.
He says the individuals who were unable to enter the chamber in the morning “did have the opportunity to participate in the open public comment period for the commission meeting later in the day,” mentioning that one of the three public members spoke at that meeting.
Ward says the city will revisit security operations to be certain this never happens again.
“The public’s fundamental right to speak on matters of public concern is of paramount importance to me as mayor and as chair,” says Ward.