New JEA Managing Director and CEO Paul McElroy presented plans Tuesday for management of the utility and improved customer service.
McElroy reduced the number of executive positions from 12, the number under former Managing Director and CEO Jim Dickenson, to nine. All nine will report to McElroy.
In the old structure, five chief officers reported to Dickenson and seven vice presidents reported to Chief Operating Officer James Chanzler.
"I am strongly committed to creating operating groups that focus on the entire electric system production and product delivery that would create the position of vice president-general manager of electric systems," McElroy told the JEA board of directors.
Mike Brost, JEA electric systems vice president, became electric system vice president and general manager effective Thursday. Brost joined JEA in 1983.
"In water-sewer, the ultimate accountability is going to be the cost per thousand gallons of water delivered and that general manager would be responsible for that cost," said McElroy.
Chanzler will transition from his COO position to vice president and general manager of wastewater systems. Chanzler joined JEA in 1997.
The COO position does not exist in McElroy's structure.
McElroy also introduced a new position, chief customer officer, that will be filled.
"(The position of) chief customer officer is definitely new to JEA and I plan to recruit internally and externally for this position. It would bring together brand and marketing capacity that we have as well as customer service and meter people that we have," said McElroy.
The chief financial officer, McElroy's previous post, is vacant. He expects to be in discussions with potential candidates in December and said he is optimistic about the position being filled by year-end.
Other positions in McElroy's structure:
• Ted Hobson will transition from vice president of fuels, purchased power and compliance to chief of audit, risk and compliance. Hobson joined JEA in 1973.
• Chief Human Resources Officer Susan Hughes will continue in that capacity. She joined JEA in 1985 as a water resources engineer.
• Chief Information Officer Wanyonyi Kendrick will continue her role as chief information officer. She began working with JEA as a consultant in 1998 and was hired as part of JEA's management team in 2000.
• Bud Para will continue his work advocating for JEA as chief public affairs officer. He joined the utility in 1980 as an engineer and was promoted from director of legislative affairs to his current post last year.
• Bruce Dugan, director of organizational performance improvement, was chosen to lead the Customer Initiative Center. It includes a group of JEA employees who are Six Sigma certified and will work to improve the utility's customer service. Six Sigma training offers tools to improve processes by identifying and removing defect causes.
"I've worked with Paul on this organizational structure and I like the way, particularly on the electric and water-sewer side, that Paul is going with a more traditional, private-sector structure that gives individual VPs (profit and loss) responsibility," said Ashton Hudson, JEA board chair.
The board also approved staff recommendations to eliminate the $2 branch transaction fee implemented to help offset the cost of maintaining branch operations, in lieu of closing the satellite offices.
"The rate measure that you approved is a positive step for our customers. We continue to evaluate fuel prices and we anticipate good news for our customers in the future," said McElroy.
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