The new investigation launched into JEA coincides with a separate probe into Council President Kevin Carrico by the State Attorney’s Office. — The Jacksonville City Council is launching a bipartisan special investigatory committee to examine allegations of financial mismanagement and workplace misconduct at JEA. Council President Kevin Carrico announced the formation of the three-member panel on Wednesday.
The announcement came one day after the city’s Office of Inspector General sent a letter to Carrico requesting assistance with allegations that the utility failed to collect millions of dollars in fees. Although the Inspector General specifically requested that council auditors look into the matter, Carrico established a full investigatory committee with subpoena power to address what he described as a multitude of issues.
Read:Documents reveal widespread issues with uncollected JEA capacity fees
The committee is tasked with investigating reports that JEA failed to charge several large commercial customers millions of dollars in additional capacity fees. These billing issues reportedly span at least three decades.
Beyond financial concerns, the three-member panel will examine allegations of a toxic workplace environment and racial discrimination in the utility’s hiring and firing practices. The committee also plans to review JEA’s compliance with whistleblower protection laws.
The investigation’s launch coincides with a separate probe into Carrico by the State Attorney’s Office. That investigation involves a text message in which Carrico indicated he would replace a JEA board member because he owed a “big favor.”
Read: Carrico text suggests ‘big favor’ driving push to replace JEA board member with boss
While the Inspector General’s letter only requested the assistance of council auditors to address the fee issue, Carrico stated that a full committee was necessary to handle the scope of the allegations. He noted that the committee provides specific legal tools not available to standard auditors.
Read:JEA failed to charge local hospital fees totaling $18.9 million, considered ‘foregoing’ past charges
“When he requested the auditors, he needs Council President authority to launch into that and to make sure that the auditors could participate,” Carrico said. “Being that there’s a multitude of issues, we had conversations one on one, then agreed that a special investigative committee would be the best way to get that, to get that resource so we could look into it independently.”
Carrico emphasized the legal authority of the new bipartisan body. “This body will have subpoena power,” Carrico said. “They can call witnesses forward. They can ask tough questions and people have to go under oath to appear in front of this body. So, that is really the reason we formed the committee, his charge and the reason that we need to get to the bottom of this because the ratepayers deserve it.”
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