{"id":167293,"date":"2026-02-24T19:06:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T19:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/167293\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T19:06:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T19:06:07","slug":"jeas-former-chief-of-staff-accuses-ceo-of-creating-fear-based-culture-ceo-says-allegations-are-unsubstantiated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/167293\/","title":{"rendered":"JEA\u2019s former chief of staff accuses CEO of creating \u2018fear-based culture.\u2019 CEO says allegations are \u2018unsubstantiated\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Tensions ran high at the JEA Board of Directors meeting on Tuesday as the former chief of staff heavily criticized the CEO\u2019s leadership<\/a> and doubled down on allegations that she has created a toxic workplace culture.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s meeting kicked off with public comment from former JEA\u2019s Chief of Staff Kurt Wilson, who was recently terminated. During his comment, Wilson slammed CEO Vickie Cavey, whom he accused of creating a \u201cpattern of behavior and culture that harms employees.\u201d <\/p>\n

Cavey responded to the allegations, calling them \u201cunsubstantiated\u201d and \u201cfalse.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy leadership style is rigorous, and it is fair, consistent and grounded in respect. I hold senior leaders to high standards because JEA\u2019s mission is critical,\u201d Cavey said during Tuesday\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n

RELATED | Timeline: How \u2018big favor\u2019 texts sparked a JEA board shakeup and allegations about utility leadership<\/a><\/p>\n

Scrutiny of JEA\u2019s leadership began with a dispute involving City Council President Kevin Carrico over a JEA board appointment.<\/p>\n

Carrico faced backlash after text messages seemed to reveal that at least part of his motivation to nominate his boss, Paul Martinez, to replace board member Arthur Adams Jr. happened because he owed him a \u201cbig favor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martinez, the current president and CEO of Boys and Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida<\/a>, where Carrico works as the vice president of strategic initiatives, withdrew from consideration amid the backlash.<\/p>\n

News4JAX contacted Carrico to ask more questions about the \u201cbig favor\u201d he was referencing in the text message, but didn\u2019t address the question directly. Instead, Carrico shifted the focus to the leadership inside JEA.<\/p>\n

In a statement last week, Carrico said he had received calls and met with JEA employees raising allegations, including racism and a toxic corporate culture<\/a> tied to the CEO.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince becoming Council President and as a leader of this community, I have unfortunately taken numerous meetings and calls from JEA employees with allegations of racism, toxic corporate culture, and other leadership challenges associated with the CEO,\u201d Carrico wrote. \u201cI am currently having conversations with community leaders interested in addressing these challenges and moving our utility forward. I look forward to announcing a name in the coming days given then [sic] disturbing culture observed at our utility.\u201d<\/p>\n

That same night, JEA employees were informed Chief of Staff Kurt Wilson was let go, according to information shared with News4JAX.<\/p>\n

A day after Carrico raised the allegations against the CEO, Mayor Donna Deegan and some JEA officials, including Cavey, held a joint news conference to push back against the claims.<\/p>\n

RELATED | JEA CEO denies \u2018toxic\u2019 culture, \u2018racism\u2019 claims; Mayor Deegan calls it a smear campaign by those out to control utility<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis vile smear campaign magically appeared after (Cavey) resisted pressure to renew a lobbying contract with people who are politically connected to a handful of council members, including our council president,\u201d Deegan said. \u201cThese are the same people who are part of the effort to sell our public utility. And frankly, who have been responsible for much of the toxic political culture in Jacksonville.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deegan and Cavey did not name the lobbying firm, and Cavey denied the existence of a \u201cpressure campaign,\u201d but Cavey did say that JEA ended its contract with the firm on Jan. 31 because JEA was not using its services.<\/p>\n

State lobbying records show that lobbyists with Ballard Partners were registered to lobby for JEA, but in the fourth quarter of 2025, Ballard Partners was not compensated by JEA for any state lobbying activities. According to Ballard Partners\u2019 website<\/a>, two partners are assigned to the Jacksonville office: Former Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry and Jordan Elsbury, Curry\u2019s former Chief of Staff.<\/p>\n

During Tuesday\u2019s meeting, Wilson doubled down on the allegations against Cavey, saying in part that he watched \u201cfirsthand how she systematically created a fear-based culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI could not, in good conscience, remain silent when so many have asked for help,\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n

Wilson called for an independent investigation into the allegations against Cavey, and said that he will remain \u201cready and willing\u201d to talk with an investigator and detail \u201chis concerns and those of his colleagues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watch Wilson\u2019s full public comment in the video below<\/p>\n

Cavey also addressed the room during Tuesday\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n

The CEO defended JEA\u2019s culture and her leadership, and she denied the accusations against her. She said that if the allegations were true, \u201cthey would not suddenly appear overnight in a political news cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn fact, they would have surfaced long before now, in annual report employment reviews, in board feedback through customer and employee engagement channels, or in the independent assessments this organization undergoes regularly,\u201d Cavey said.<\/p>\n

Watch Cavey\u2019s remarks in the video below<\/p>\n

Jacksonville City Councilman Ron Salem called the recent events \u201cdisturbing.\u201d He also addressed Wilson\u2019s termination which came after the chief of staff position was eliminated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis type of termination has a devastating impact on the employees and their ability to provide feedback,\u201d Salem said.<\/p>\n

Some JEA employees also spoke during public comment about Cavey\u2019s leadership. <\/p>\n

One of those employees is the manager of technical training. He praised Cavey\u2019s performance, especially after the \u201cchallenging\u201d times back in 2019 during the scandal involving former JEA CEO Aaron Zahn<\/a>, who was accused of trying to defraud taxpayers of millions of dollars.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a considerable amount of uneasiness among the employees due to these past events,\u201d he said. \u201cShe earned their trust with her authenticity and, of course, her confidence in the JEA mission.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Wilson acknowledged that some employees may have positive reviews about Cavey, he said the issue is \u201cthe part that you don\u2019t see.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDozens of my remaining colleagues work in fear of retribution and hostility,\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n

After the heated discussions, Chair Joseph DiSalvo addressed \u201cthe elephant in the room\u201d and called for a vote of confidence in Cavey\u2019s leadership. Only JEA Vice Chair Rick Morales voted against it.<\/p>\n

The next board meeting is scheduled for March 31.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Tensions ran high at the JEA Board of Directors meeting on Tuesday as the former…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167294,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117,501],"class_list":["post-167293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}