In its very first meeting, the JEA Special Investigatory Committee announced its running into roadblocks.
The committee is looking into as much as $100 million in uncollected fees at the utility and allegations of toxic workplace culture centering around JEA’s CEO, Vickie Cavey, and the utility’s head of HR Diane Mosser.
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The three-member JEA Special Investigatory Committee is drawing a lot of attention on city council, with a total of eight council members attending the first meeting on Tuesday.
Committee Chair Ron Salem (R-Group 2 At-Large) announced he’s in the process of hiring an outside group to come in and survey 147 JEA employees with direct contact with the utility’s CEO Vickie Cavey to get to the bottom of toxic workplace and racism allegations.
He’s also going to be surveying former JEA employees who either left on their own accord or were fired.
“But we will keep those results separate from these 147 that are current employees in order to make sure we’re getting the right numbers and the right evaluation on the right employees,” said Salem.
Council auditors are also attempting to dig into reports of as much as $100 million in uncollected additional capacity fees.
Salem explained that auditors need questions answered to help them through that process, which only former JEA General Counsel Regina Ross would be able to answer.
Ross penned a memo in 2024 detailing the issues of uncharged additional capacity fees related to Mayo Clinic, in which she estimated the hospital had not been charged as much as $18.9 million alone.
But committee members explained the City’s Office of General Council told them Ross will not be allowed to participate in the investigation due to potential attorney-client privilege conflicts.
“There’s no reason why we should even have this issue. I find it very disturbing at the beginning of an investigation to start throwing up roadblocks,” said Councilmember Rory Diamond (R-District 13).
Deputy General Counsel Dylan Reingold said the city’s Office of General Counsel, which employs Ross, will participate to the best of its ability in the audit.
But added this comment after the city council’s attorney Jason Teal floated the idea of subpoenaing Ross for her testimony, and noted failure to comply with such a subpoena carries criminal penalties.
“The city council may want to arrest her, and I’m certainly hopeful that the city council doesn’t do that,” said Reingold.
“That’s such an inappropriate comment,” Salem rebuffed.
It was also announced in the meeting that Council President Kevin Carrico will be able to vote and participate in the committee’s work along the way.
Carrico is currently under investigation by the State Attorney’s Office for his own dealings with JEA after he suggested in a text that he would be replacing a JEA board member because he owed a “a big favor.”
We asked Salem whether he believes it’s appropriate for Carrico to potentially act as a tie-breaking vote on the committee, given his own issues surrounding the utility.
“Well, I think every vote was unanimous. I didn’t hear any dissents on any of those votes, but he’s the President. That’s his role,” said Salem.
The committee will meet next Monday again and hear testimony from JEA Chief of Staff Kurt Wilson.
Wilson has claimed his position at JEA was eliminated after he voiced concerns about the workplace environment to the JEA Board Chair.
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