Jacksonville City Council JEA Investigative Committee Meeting - April 27, 2026
Special Committee on JEA Investigative Meeting – April 27, 2026
The Jacksonville City Council’s Special Committee on JEA (the “SIC”) convened on April 27, 2026, to continue its investigation into JEA’s operations, financial stability, and workplace culture. The four-hour session covered a non-disclosure agreement with a potential bidder, a planned seminar on the combined cycle power plant, an update on capacity fee collection, the JEA board’s refusal to waive attorney‑client privilege, and extensive testimony from JEA’s Chief Human Resources Officer, Diane Moser, regarding hiring, retention, complaints, and allegations of a toxic and racist work environment.
Discussion Items
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Non‑Disclosure Agreement (GE Venova Operations LLC) – Council legislative counsel Jason Teal explained that an NDA between JEA and a bidder includes a provision for compelled disclosure, and that the committee could proceed with its inquiry without violating the agreement. Committee members expressed confidence that the NDA would not impede their work.
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Combined Cycle Power Plant Seminar – Councilmember Rory Diamond urged a basic explanation of the combined cycle project, its history, and its impact on JEA’s finances and customer rates. The committee agreed to hold a two‑hour seminar on May 11, 2026 (two weeks from this meeting) at 10:00 AM, followed by testimony from Jody Brooks and Regina Ross at 1:00 PM. A second hearing was scheduled for May 26, 2026 from 12:00 PM to 2:30 PM (adjusted for council elections that day).
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Employee Survey Update – Mr. Teal reported that the council‑sponsored survey legislation had cleared committees (with emergency clause removed) and is expected for final council approval on May 12, 2026. The survey vendor is ready to proceed.
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Capacity Fee Update – Council Auditor Kim Taylor detailed ongoing work with JEA staff to verify baseline capacity fees for over 25,000 business accounts. JEA is focusing on about 4,500 accounts where data may be incomplete. Taylor stated that JEA is discussing a statute of limitations on past undercharges but the committee wants to assess the total amount potentially lost, regardless of collectability. Councilmembers Diamond and Salem stressed the need to stop further undercharges and to determine the full historical impact.
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Attorney‑Client Privilege for Regina Ross – Mr. Teal informed the committee that the JEA board had declined a blanket waiver of privilege for former JEA counsel Regina Ross, but offered to consider limited waivers for specific questions. Councilmember Diamond sharply criticized the board’s refusal, calling it an obstruction of the investigation.
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Testimony of Diane Moser (JEA CHRO) – Ms. Moser provided detailed workforce data:
- 2,292 employees (as of April 1, 2026): ~500 appointed, ~1,800 union, others managerial/confidential.
- Minority representation: 25% in leadership roles; 37–38% of new hires are minorities.
- Executive turnover: 32 separations since April 2024; four chiefs left since CEO Vicky Cavey arrived in February 2024; two of those chiefs continued as paid consultants after leaving, which Councilmember Diamond characterized as a workaround of the six‑week severance limit under state law.
- Media consultants: Ms. Moser confirmed JEA re‑hired a retired employee (Jerry Boyce) part‑time and retained a media consulting firm (Bachmann) to help manage public records requests and media inquiries. Councilmembers questioned whether these hires were used to shape coverage and attack council members.
- Kurt Wilson’s departure: Ms. Moser described a February 19, 2026 conversation in which Mr. Wilson indicated he expected to be fired; later that day his access was revoked. She said he “quit” and that no decision to fire him had been made.
- Complaints and culture: Ms. Moser stated she had received no complaints about CEO Vicky Cavey, and that a separate investigation into a toxic/racist work environment was launched after Mr. Wilson’s allegations became public. Councilmember Pittman read excerpts from five letters from current/former employees alleging a climate of fear, diminished minority representation, and retaliation for speaking up. Ms. Moser countered that the survey was planned long before the controversy and that she believes the work environment is neither racist nor toxic.
Key Outcomes
- Combined Cycle Seminar Scheduled – May 11, 2026 (10:00 AM–12:00 PM) with testimony from JEA staff; followed by Jody Brooks and Regina Ross at 1:00 PM.
- Additional Hearing Set – May 26, 2026 (12:00 PM–2:30 PM); Councilmember Randy DeFoor will invite JEA board chair Ms. Cavey.
- Capacity Fee Investigation Continues – The committee directed staff to go back as far as possible to quantify lost revenue, regardless of statute of limitations.
- Media Consultants Under Scrutiny – Councilmembers indicated they will subpoena JEA’s media consultants (Jerry Boyce and Bachmann) to testify about their role in communications strategy.
- Workplace Culture Concerns Raised – The committee noted the apparent contradiction between Ms. Moser’s assertions and the employee letters; members encouraged use of the Jacksonville Human Rights Commission as a safe avenue for complaints. The council’s own employee survey will proceed, with results shared with JEA.
Meeting Transcript
Good afternoon and welcome to the special committee ex investigative committee on JEA. Let's start with introductions to my far left. Colleen Hamsey, Council Research. Mary Stephopolis, Office of General Counsel. Brian Parks, Council Auditor's Office. Kim Taylor, Council Auditor. Jason Teal, Council Legislative Council. Good afternoon, Rory Diamond, District 13, the beaches. Ron Salem, group two at large. Kim Carico, City Council District 4. Welcome, Mr. President. Glad to have you here. Um Councilmember Pittman will be here momentarily. So let's just start going through the agenda and uh up uh on the expanded role of the sick. Um the committee received. Here's Ms. Pittman. The uh committee received a memo from Council President Carico and has asked us to look at the combined cycle. You okay? Okay. As well as the impact of the combined cycle on JEA's annual contribution to the city and JEA's financial stability and outlook causing the need to increase utility rates for JEA customers. Um I I have some concern just about the the timing of of all this and maybe uh trying to set up some additional meetings, number one, and number two, received uh an email from uh um general counsel Fackler just a little while ago that um on this subject. And uh Mr. Teal, would you like to comment on his email or help us understand the issues there? Sure, through the chair of the committee. So the email uh was related to a non-disclosure agreement the JEA entered into with a bidder uh or a potential bidder, I guess, on a um a project, and it's called GE Venova Operations LLC. And part of that is um, I guess there's some confidential information that is is is part of that discussion or negotiations for the contract. Uh and uh the concern that Mr. Facler raised was that through this proceeding they may uh inadvertently disclose uh some information or that's uh that's covered by the non-disclosure agreement. Um I did want to point out though that um that is well, first of all, that is a it's a valid concern. Um, but the the non-disclosure agreement actually has a provision in it that talks about compelled discover disclosure of confidential information. So it's not to say that they can't, and and this proceeding would um, in my opinion, fall into that category of compelled uh if that did come out. But what I would uh advise the committee is that um go through your uh your analysis uh in terms of the expanded uh charge. See uh first of all, you probably haven't had it long enough to really have mapped out fully uh exactly what areas you want to get into, but leave it up to JEA to say, you know, during that testimony that this is something that we want to assert the privilege on. If the committee does uh desire or feels like it does need that information, uh first of all, I don't think you would based upon what what's covered by this, but if there is that, there's a method to be able to handle that situation uh that's embedded in the NDA itself. So um I don't think it should hamper you uh as far as your exploration of the expanded uh charge that you've been given. Uh I think JEA can feel that it can it can assert that privilege uh just like we dealt with with uh the Regina Ross situation. Um and then if uh in in the given instance where it is asserted, if you feel like you do need to explore it more, uh then there's a path forward, I think that we could cover if and when we need to please and Mr. Fackler's here as well in case we want to pull him up if we need to. Yeah, I mean I look I read the NDA. Um obviously I haven't read the contract that's covered by the NDA, it's 800 pages. Um, and I just got that memo about 30 minutes ago. But from my point of view, I'm this doesn't give me any heartburn because the stuff that is covered by an NDA is very narrow. The stuff that we need to do is high-end policy. Figure out is the city in a bad spot. If we happen to get down into one of those niches where it may cover not only as Jason says, can we have um uh uh Mr. Facler can object or someone from uh JEA can assert the privilege that that's no big deal either? But it's not like we're in trial here. It's not like this is going 10,000 miles an hour.
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