Gainesville city commissioner David Arreola has paid an election fine more than one year after he was notified the fine was due.
It stems from a late candidate treasurer's report he filed in March of 2017 when he was running for city commissioner, an office he won. He was ordered to pay a fine of $898.75 cents by then-city clerk Kurt Lannon because he was five days late in filing his treasurer's report.
Lannon retired in December, and a year passed without Arreola paying; he paid this week when Mark Glaeser, who lives in Gainesville, contacted him questioning when the payment had been made.
"The city clerk's office has informed me that the fine was paid on March 20, 2018, mere hours before you emailed me that the fine was paid in full," Glaeser wrote Thursday morning in an email.
In a response two hours later, Arreola wrote "it was an honest mistake that I forgot to pay the fine when it was levied 5 days before election day."
"The fine has now been paid and although the fine was levied before I was a public official, I take the integrity of the office I occupy seriously," Arreola, who represents District 3, wrote back. "Thank you for your attention to this matter."
Read the full exchange below: