JEA Managing Director and CEO Jim Dickenson announced his retirement Tuesday while several other leaders of the utility also will change status.
Dickenson’s contract required him to notify the board of his intentions regarding a contract renewal 180 days before the end of his contract. His contract expires Aug. 3, and the board voted to extend that until February 2013.
He announced that he would not pursue a 41st year with the utility.
“Ending a career with such a great company is a hard decision to make and it is not one that I have made lightly. JEA is like family to me and I will miss it,” said Dickenson.
Board Chairman Ron Townsend commented about Dickenson’s performance as managing director and CEO.
“I have worked with many CEOs — both in the public and in the private sectors — and Jim Dickenson is definitely one of the best. Jim has an outstanding record at JEA,” said Townsend.
“At the board’s request, he has graciously agreed to stay on an additional six months, to take us through the budget process as well as through our bond rating agency trip, so that we may have an orderly transition,” he said.
As of February 2013, Dickenson will have served 40 years with JEA. He originally was hired into the transmission and substation design group as a mechanical engineer.
Dickenson’s salary is $317,600 a year.
Dickenson, 60, said he was most proud of the financial stability the utility has been able to achieve.
“In terms of my time here, I’m most proud of the financial stability of JEA, maintaining our credit rating through tough financial times. That was extremely hard to do and we were forced to make some difficult decisions in order to do that,” said Dickenson.
He didn’t take credit for the successes during his eight years at the helm of JEA, always talking about the JEA team. He listed some of the successes in his letter to the board:
• The recently completed Greenland Energy Center. The plant is JEA’s newest and only electric generating facility south and east of the St. Johns River.
• A contract for nuclear power in place for later this decade, from Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia’s Vogtle nuclear complex outside of Augusta, Ga., with an option for additional nuclear power in the next decade, from Duke Energy, which is developing the 2,234-megawatt Lee Nuclear Station in Cherokee County, S.C.
• JEA received a 20-year Consumptive Use Water Permit, which will provide a sustainable potable water resource for the community.
• Built a structure of cash reserves to provide adequate liquidity for rate stabilization against volatile fuel prices and anticipated interest rate increases.
The board agreed to begin a nationwide search for Dickenson’s replacement.
“This process will involve both internal and external candidates with the goal of assuring we choose the best possible candidate to lead JEA into the future,” said Townsend.
Townsend will chair the search committee and it will include board Vice Chair Ashton Hudson and board members Cynthia Austin and Mike Hightower.
Dickenson is not the only one leaving JEA service. Board member Jay Fant will complete his second term on the board Feb. 28 and will not be able to serve another consecutive term.
The board also is anticipating City Council action regarding Mayor Alvin Brown’s nomination of Charlie Appleby to fill a seat on the board vacated by Karen Bowling, who left to join the mayor’s administration.
Appleby, chairman and CEO of Advanced Disposal, is scheduled to appear before the Council Rules Committee Feb. 6 and, upon committee approval, the full Council for final approval Feb. 14.
If approved, Appleby could be seated at his first meeting as a board member at the Feb. 21 meeting.
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