Jacksonville, Fla. — JEA is pushing back on Jacksonville’s former City Council president after he suggested JEA CEO Vickie Cavey’s recently announced leave of absence may be related to recent council investigations into the utility.
On Wednesday, JEA announced Cavey would be taking a leave of absence lasting longer than two weeks but less than two months.
The announcement was immediately met with questions and insinuations from former Council President Kevin Carrico (R-District 4), who spent a great deal of his term as president launching investigations into JEA and Cavey.
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Carrico is also the subject of a criminal investigation launched by the State Attorney’s Office surrounding his own dealings with the utility.
Carrico questioned the timing of Cavey’s announcement, given it came two days after council auditors revealed the utility failed to collect between $55 million and $75 million in fees from large commercial customers over the past several decades.
“While I continue to pray for Vicki Cavey and sincerely hope everything is okay with her, the public deserves answers about why she is abruptly stepping away from her role amid the scrutiny surrounding our investigation,” Carrico said in a statement.
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“What they’re saying is not true. It’s false and it’s cruel,” said Council Member Matt Carlucci (R-Group 4 At-Large) in response to Carrico’s statement.
Carlucci told Action News Jax he’s heard from several high-ranking leaders at JEA who have assured him Cavey’s leave of absence is not related to her performance.
A JEA spokesperson told us the same thing when asked whether council investigations had any role in Cavey’s decision to temporarily step aside.
“The two are unrelated and to even suggest that is absurd,” said a JEA spokesperson.
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When we asked Carrico whether he wanted to retract his statement in light of JEA’s comment, he did not respond.
“Kevin needs to be quiet. He needs to respect her privacy,” said Carlucci. ”He needs to go back to being a council member.”
During Cavey’s absence, JEA Chief Administrative Officer Jodi Brooks will serve as interim CEO.
JEA told Action News Jax that Cavey will continue to be paid, as she is using accrued PTO time while she is away.
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