Charles Goston – Gainesville City Commission District 1 Candidate Questionaire

1) What are the biggest issues facing working people in the City of Gainesville?

High GRU bills, high bills and fees, lack of good paying jobs, poor bus service, and crumbling city streets.

2) Do you support paying a living wage for all City workers including part-time, temporary, seasonal, and contracted workers? (The ACLC defines a living wage as 125% of the Federal Poverty Level – currently $14.78 an hour).

      a. How will you ensure contracted workers are paid the set wage?

      b. What is your plan to get us there?

I’ve heard some pretty compelling arguments that applying salary requirements to contract workers has the effect of eliminating contract workers has the effect of eliminating contracts that might otherwise have gone to local family companies that have been able to undercut the big companies but under a forced salary requirement would lose that advantage and those contracts.

3) What other ideas do you have to help improve wages and benefits for workers throughout our community?

Bringing new businesses to the Eastside is the best way to improve the lot of workers.

4) Do you support providing paid administrative leave for part-time, temporary, seasonal, and contracted City workers in the event of emergency work closures (e.g., hours missed due to Hurricane Irma)?

Unnecessary expenditures in the city budget will have to be made in order to prevent job cuts and layoffs when economic downturns arrive.

5) If you are an employer: Do you pay all your workers a living wage? If you do not: How are you making an effort to do so?

(No Answer)

6) Do you support a “Renters Bill of Rights’” which would:

  • inform renters of their rights under existing laws
  • offer an alternative to costly courts to settle disputes over security deposits damages
  • protect renters from high utility bills by enacting policies that require landlords to make basic investments in energy efficiency

I don’t see any problem with the first two bullet points. The third bullet seems problematic to me. I would think that if the City simply made available the average cost of electricity in various apartment units around town and required that information to be made available to renters the market would take care of this issue.

7) Do you support a local hiring preference that includes the use of certified apprenticeship programs for taxpayer funded projects?

Any money related to employment may be more beneficial going to workers.