The JEA board of directors honored interim Managing Director and CEO Paul McElroy during its monthly meeting Dec. 11 with an official send-off.
McElroy leaves the city-owned utility after a seven-month tenure where he purged senior executives involved in the last year’s attempt to sell JEA.
He worked to reduce the size of JEA’s next corporate headquarters building Downtown and settled the utility’s legal fight with Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia over a purchase power agreement for nuclear Plant Vogtle.
The board unanimously approved a resolution Dec. 11 honoring McElroy’s efforts.
“During his interim tenure, (McElroy) advanced JEA’s commitment to doing the right thing and getting JEA back to its fundamentals by embracing a strong ethical policy and assuring customers and employees that JEA is not for sale,” the resolution stated.
The board rehired McElroy as interim CEO on May 5 to lead the municipal utility as it worked to find a permanent replacement for fired CEO Aaron Zahn.
McElroy left JEA after 16 years when his contract expired in 2018. That was during the utility’s first round of discussions with City Hall officials to possibly privatize JEA, a move McElroy said he did not support.
The outgoing CEO praised the JEA board, which was appointed by Mayor Lenny Curry and approved by City Council to replace the former board in April. McElroy called the group a “highly engaged, knowledgeable and tremendously experienced and skillful board.”
“The last seven months, working with this team with this board and the workforce of JEA and righting the ship … was in effect, reflecting on it, a capstone project of my career and I thank you,” McElroy said. “I will always be grateful for you giving me the opportunity to do that.”
One month after being rehired, McElroy fired the remaining eight members of JEA’s senior leadership team under Zahn.
Under McElroy’s leadership, the utility aided Council and U.S. Department of Justice investigators to fulfill subpoenas and requests for documents and testimony in two separate investigations.
Council and the Justice Department are investigating a canceled invitation to negotiate with private companies interested in buying JEA.
In June, the board voted to retire one unit of the coal-fired Plant Scherer in Juliette, Georgia, and enter a 20-year power purchase agreement with Florida Power & Light Co.
On July 30, JEA and the city settled the Plant Vogtle lawsuit with MEAG.
The resolution approved Dec. 15 said the actions are “enabling JEA to get its power from natural gas, solar and nuclear energy in the future.”
McElroy worked with board Vice Chair Bobby Stein to renegotiate JEA’s lease agreement with Ryan Companies US Inc. to reduce the square footage of the utility’s corporate headquarters under construction at 225 N. Pearl St.
The plan includes moving JEA’s emergency operations to a secondary facility to be built at a site bounded by Ashley, Johnson, Church and Duval streets in LaVilla.
JEA documents released in May show the action could reduce the utility’s gross rent cost by $27 million over the life of the lease with Ryan.
McElroy also authorized a request for quotes to solicit market interest in redeveloping about 1,200 acres of the former St. Johns River Power Park in North Jacksonville.
Council unanimously approved its own resolution Dec. 11 honoring McElroy that was filed by Randy DeFoor, the liaison to JEA..
Following a year in which Council approved broad Article 21 charter changes to prevent future JEA privatization efforts, McElroy called the utility’s relationship with city lawmakers “at peak performance right now.”
Jay Stowe, McElroy’s successor, attended his first board meeting Dec. 15 as JEA CEO.
“I’ll speak for the utility industry at large, broader than the community, the effort that you want your team put together was impressive and I appreciate it more than I can say in words,” Stowe said.