JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Action News Jax’s Ben Becker has obtained handwritten notes from Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan’s office that are now part of the Florida Attorney General’s investigation into the Jacksonville Transportation Authority.
The notes, which the mayor’s office previously argued were personal and not public records, were subpoenaed by the Attorney General on Tuesday to document a March 2025 meeting between Deegan and former JTA board member Megan Hayward.
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Hayward has long warned city leaders about financial concerns at the agency before JTA revealed a $39 million budget shortfall that later led to layoffs and service cuts.
Now, the notes from the mayor’s office are providing new clues into what was discussed during that meeting and raising new questions about what Deegan knew about JTA’s finances at the time.
‘Fiscal cliff?’
Deegan: “I went back and looked at the notes of my meeting with her.”
Deegan made that comment on Sept. 22 following the city budget vote, when asked about the 2025 meeting with Hayward. The mayor had Hayward removed from the JTA board last year after Hayward publicly criticized spending decisions at the transportation agency.
Deegan has maintained their meeting primarily centered on declining ridership and concerns about a contract involving outgoing JTA CEO Nat Ford’s wife.
She reiterated that position Tuesday during an interview with Action News Jax news partner, News 104.5 WOKV.
Deegan: “Nothing that she said to me in that conversation would have led us to believe there was some sort of fiscal cliff that JTA was about to fall off.”
What the notes reveal
However, the notes taken by a mayoral staffer suggest the discussion may have extended beyond those topics.
Among the entries are references to CEO evaluations, employee turnover, and one notation that reads: “U2C $800 million Skyway.”
JTA’s Ultimate Urban Circulator program, which includes the Bay Street Innovation Corridor and autonomous vehicle network, is slated to receive approximately $247 million from Jacksonville’s local option gas tax revenues.
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What the notes do not explain is whether the $800 million figure referenced a projected future cost or a broader discussion about the program.
Last month, Hayward suggested her opposition to the project played a role in her removal from the board and that Deegan was aware of her financial concerns.
Hayward: “And because she knew I was going to vote off the U2C project, I’m assuming that’s why she kicked me off. She’s lying.”
Mayor’s office response
Action News Jax asked the mayor’s office about the notes and how they compare with the mayor’s public recollection of the meeting.
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In a statement, a spokesperson said:
“That evening, [Sept. 22] the mayor was speaking off the cuff and recollecting some of the topics she discussed with Ms. Hayward.”
The spokesperson added that Deegan later provided a more detailed account during her interview with WOKV and noted both the mayor’s administration and City Council reviewed Hayward’s concerns at the time.
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The statement also says:
“Both the administration and the Council followed up on Ms. Hayward’s concerns. They were either adequately addressed by JTA at the time or were unable to be substantiated. There was no hard evidence at the time to confirm the state agency was ‘going off a fiscal cliff’. That is why the Council unanimously confirmed Elaine Brown to the JTA board - after at first pausing her nomination to investigate Ms. Hayward’s questions. We would respectfully suggest you also follow up with Ms. Hayward to find out who she spoke with on the City Council about issues at JTA, and also their recollections of those meetings and why they did not find evidence to hold up the confirmation of Elaine Brown.”
Hayward and the Jacksonville City Council
Hayward was out of town Thursday and declined to comment. Becker reached out to all the sitting city council members at the time Hayward was on the board from October 2023-March 2025.
Council president Nick Howland and JTA council liaison Rory Diamond responded that they spoke with Hayward by phone, while Jimmy Peluso met with her in person.
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Howland said, “I told Megan I would hold it up long enough to get her questions answered at the next JTA board meeting. She was thankful for that. Council has no appointments to the JTA board, but it does have approval authority over the mayor’s appointments. The mayor’s bill had the votes to pass. You can look back at the vote record. My only option would have been to defer the bill indefinitely which most likely would’ve been overruled by the President or by 2/3 of Council for lack of merit. That was 18 months ago, when the full extent of JTA’s issues were not yet known to Council.”
Diamond says the nomination of Brown was not held up because “everyone likes her.” Peluso said there was “nothing solid,” just that Hayward said, “I don’t trust this U2C or the over-all plan.”
What’s next
Along with the state probe, the City Council has launched its own audit and review of JTA’s finances as scrutiny of the agency continues. That committee is scheduled to meet Friday at 9:30 a.m.
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