Jacksonville’s public utility is under additional scrutiny after the State Attorney’s Office issued a subpoena to the Jacksonville Electric Authority (JEA). This comes after allegations of racism and a toxic work culture.

The subpoena asks for JEA to provide communications involving a list of topics and names, including JEA CEO Vickie Cavey and City Council President Kevin Carrico. It also asked for communications to and from Ballard Partners, which is the lobbying firm where former Mayor Lenny Curry works. The firm has been at the center of the JEA controversy after Mayor Donna Deegan said there was a ‘vile smear campaign’ against Cavey because JEA did not renew its contract with Ballard back in January.

Jacksonville City Council’s special investigatory committee on JEA met Monday for an update on their investigation and to question former JEA Board Chair and current board member, Joe DiSalvo.

Committee Chair Ron Salem said the State Attorney’s Office did not place any restrictions on them after issuing the subpoena.

“I contacted them this morning, I wanted to make sure we were all ok with our investigation. They indicated that they would continue to have dialogue with us and that are our investigation should continue,” Salem explained.

Councilman Rory Diamond led the questioning of DiSalvo. In his opening statement, DiSalvo said JEA has processes in place to address employee complaints and he brought up concerns with city council’s investigation.

“The special investigation process raises serious questions about neutrality, methodology and purpose,” DiSalvo said.

DiSalvo said he did not learn about the allegations of racism and toxicity until Carrico’s text messages with a JEA board member came to light the week of February 17, 2026. He also confirmed he did not hear about issues with capacity fees until January 2026 and had little knowledge of any issues with Ballard Partners.

Diamond asked DiSalvo several times whether he would have a problem with someone pressuring the CEO not to use Ballard, specifically Mayor Deegan.

“JEA is an independent authority and they should be shielded, this sounds naive, shielded from political gamesmanship,” DiSalvo ultimately responded.

DiSalvo also doubled down on his belief that it is too soon to say whether these allegations point to a larger problem within JEA.

Diamond asked: “You’ve stated that the allegations were unsupported. It’s just 12 people. It didn’t meet the standard. You’re saying that all this stuff, what is the threshold? Is 12 people enough? Is allegations of racism enough?”

“Well, again, we sort of talked this, I think half an hour ago. I don’t know, but when you got such a low percentage and you’re making it sound like it’s a systemic endemic problem, that’s…you’re jumping the gun way too early till we find out how significant those are,” DiSalvo answered.

City Council will be voting on legislation to approve a company called Selection Link to issue an anonymous survey to employees who interact with Cavey. JEA is also conducting its own employee satisfaction survey.

Diamond also asked about JEA’s plan to build a combined cycle natural gas plant. The project was approved by the board in August 2025. DiSalvo said it will cost around $1 billion. Diamond said he is concerned because JEA has already invested $350 million into the project, but they are still waiting approval from the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC).

“So what do we do if PSC says no, and they haven’t been that nice to JEA in the past. If they say no, what are we gonna do with $350 million already spent?” Diamond asked.

“I asked the same question and as this will sound ridiculous, that’s part of the process. PSC has been aware of what we’re doing. If they would have saw, what I’ve been told, if they see any red flags in the process before we contracted for the combined cycle plant, they would have told us,” DiSalvo answered.