JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — JEA’s special investigatory committee is once again pressing top leadership on two issues that have been hanging over the utility for months. Those questions center on allegations of a toxic work culture inside JEA and a separate concern involving the utility’s failure to collect millions of dollars in capacity fees from large commercial customers.
Chief Administrative Officer Jody Brooks appeared before the committee and quickly pushed back on the idea that there is a toxic work environment within the organization. She dismissed those claims directly. But when the conversation shifted to the missed revenue, Brooks had a more difficult time explaining how the lapse went unnoticed for so long.
Brooks acknowledged during her remarks that systems in place today are more efficient and better equipped to catch errors like this. At the same time, she pointed to limitations in earlier technology and internal processes as a likely reason the issue was not identified sooner. Her explanation suggested that the problem may have been systemic rather than the result of a single oversight.
She also raised the possibility that the issue is not limited to the frequently mentioned Mayo Clinic account. Instead, Brooks indicated the utility will need to review its more than 250 large commercial customers to determine whether other billing failures occurred and, if so, how much money may still be owed to JEA.
The committee is now working through a broader review of JEA’s billing practices to determine whether the missed capacity fees were an isolated issue tied to a single account or part of a larger problem affecting multiple large commercial customers.
Later in the meeting, Councilmember Matt Carlucci pushed back hard on the direction of the investigation. He accused the committee of going too far and said it was effectively prosecuting the utility through its inquiry. Carlucci also called for the investigation to be shut down.
The back and forth reflected a deeper divide inside City Hall over how the utility should be scrutinized going forward and whether the current review has gone beyond its original intent.
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