A Jacksonville City Council special investigatory committee will look into hostile-workplace allegations and uncollected fees within JEA, Council President Kevin Carrico announced March 11.
Carrico formed the committee following a request from city Inspector General Matthew Lascell, who sought Council assistance in determining if the city-owned utility had adequately collected capacity fees from several of its commercial customers, according to a memo from Lascell to Carrico.
Capacity fees and associated charges are one-time fees assessed to JEA customers connecting to the utility’s water, wastewater and reclamation system. JEA, a not-for-profit organization, says it imposes the fees to cover the costs of infrastructure expansion, replacement and refurbishment.
“According to the allegations, this issue may date back several years and may involve a significant dollar amount,” Lascell wrote in a memo to Carrico.
According to Daily Record news partner News4Jax, JEA attorneys argued in October 2025 that Mayo Clinic in Florida owes more than $12 million in additional capacity fees because its water and sewer usage increased dramatically over time. News4Jax reported that Mayo Clinic attorneys argued the organization is not required to pay those charges, citing a 1986 agreement with the city of Jacksonville.
The committee’s creation also followed allegations of toxic leadership and racism against JEA CEO Vickie Cavey by Carrico and former JEA Chief of Staff Kurt Wilson. Carrico said at a March 11 news conference that he heard allegations made by 12 JEA employees. Wilson said Cavey’s behavior was directed toward employees working at JEA headquarters.
Cavey has denied the allegations, saying at a Feb. 24 board meeting that if the allegations were true, complaints would have emerged earlier in her more than 40 years with JEA and “would not suddenly appear overnight in a political news cycle.”
“My leadership style is rigorous, and it is fair, consistent and grounded in respect. I hold senior leaders to high standards, because JEA’s mission is critical,” Cavey said.
JEA spokesperson Gerri McKenzie said the agency "remains committed to delivering essential services to our customers in the most effective and efficient manner. We ensure that JEA employees have easily accessible resources to address any personal and professional concerns. At the core of JEA’s values is accountability and respect for the more than 2,000 employees, who are the backbone of this organization."
Council member Ron Salem, who will chair the special committee, said he expected to use an external company to survey 40 or 50 of JEA’s top employees, keeping their testimony out of public light to protect their identity.
“Those results will be analyzed and come back to us so we can understand the culture that is going on over there and in a way that protects them,” Salem said at the news conference.
Carrico assigned the committee to perform five tasks, according to a news release from his office. They are:
Wilson told the JEA board during a Feb. 24 meeting that JEA employees who worked at Downtown headquarters worked “in fear of retribution and hostility.” Wilson told The Florida Times-Union before that meeting he brought his concerns to board Chair Joseph DiSalvo. Soon after, he said, he was fired from his role at JEA.
Carrico also wrote in a statement before the board meeting that he had heard allegations of “racism, toxic corporate culture, and other leadership challenges” against Cavey in multiple calls with JEA staff members.
The committee will include Salem, the Council’s liaison to JEA, and members Rory Diamond and Ju’Coby Pittman.
After the JEA board opted not to launch its own investigation into the allegations against Cavey, both Salem and Diamond publicly called for a separate Council probe.
“Moving forward, I will continue to advocate for transparency, to ensure that the JEA employees are respected and most of all empowered, and we’re public where the public can have full confidence of the operation,” Pittman said. “Our goal on this committee is to be the heartbeat of the people who work there and for their concerns and to help them and reflect the values that they have of working at JEA and their integrity and their respect.”
The committee will begin work in coming weeks and provide information to the full Council as information becomes available, according to the release from Carrico’s office.
Deegan says allegations part of “power play”
Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan issued a statement after Carrico's news conference calling the Council investigation a "power play."
“The Inspector General asked for a ‘limited-scope project,’ not the spectacle of a politically charged council committee weaponized against our JEA," the statement read. "That this effort is being driven by the Council President, who is himself the focus of a State Attorney investigation around his own JEA board appointment, further calls into question its legitimacy.
"This is just more of the same power play that traces back to the people who tried to sell off our publicly owned utility the first time. JEA has a professional board, the majority of whom are appointed by the City Council. It is the board’s job to provide oversight. This new committee is an overreach that will only waste taxpayer dollars for personal political gain."
During a Feb. 20 news conference, Deegan said the allegations were part of a “smear campaign” against Cavey, after the CEO declined to extend the contract of a Jacksonville lobbying firm. That firm, Ballard Partners, employs former Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry and his former chief of staff, Jordan Elsbury.
In January, JEA opted not to exercise an option to extend the one-year contract.
“The fact that those who want to control JEA for money and power are willing to smear a faithful public servant like Vickie is reprehensible, if not surprising,” Deegan said Feb. 20. “The problem is we’ve got some local bad actors who would rather go on a retribution and revenge tour than to move our city forward.”
Both Curry and Ellsbury denied the allegations, and Wilson called Deegan’s statements a “smear campaign” against him.
During the Feb. 24 JEA board meeting, members declined to authorize an investigation into Cavey, and instead approved a vote of confidence in the CEO.
Carrico under investigation for board nomination
Carrico is under review from the state attorney’s office after nominating Paul Martinez, the president and CEO of Boys and Girls Club of Northeast Florida, to the JEA board in Febrrary. Martinez withdrew his name for consideration after texts between Carrico and JEA board member Arthur Adams emerged, in which Carrico said he nominated Martinez as a favor for a friend. Adams was set to be the board member replaced by Martinez.
Carrico also works for Martinez as the Boys and Girls Clubs’ vice president of strategic initiatives.
After Martinez’s withdrawal, the JEA board’s executive committee voted March 2 to nominate Adams to replace Rick Morales III as vice chair. At the Feb. 24 board meeting, Morales made an unsuccessful motion for JEA to investigate the allegations against Cavey, and he also voiced the lone no vote in the board’s vote of confidence in the CEO.
After the executive committee meeting, Carrico nominated Randy Wyse, president of the Jacksonville Association of Fire Fighters and first district vice president of Florida Professional Firefighters, to replace Adams on the board.
Carrico has received a subpoena from the state attorney’s office seeking communication related to JEA, Wilson, Cavey, Martinez or any other JEA board member.
“We’re complying in full with all (the attorney’s) requests and making sure that we cooperate fully to make sure that it comes to the light that there was no wrongdoing on my behalf, and I’m confident that that’ll happen,” Carrico said March 11.