JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan criticized a new Jacksonville City Council special investigative committee targeting the city-owned utility JEA, calling it a \u201cpolitically charged\u201d overreach.<\/p>\n
City Council President Kevin Carrico announced the committee on Wednesday after the City of Jacksonville Office of Inspector General (OIG) asked the council for assistance related to allegations involving JEA.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s my responsibility as the president,\u201d Carrico said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to come to a resolution soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
The move comes amid heightened scrutiny surrounding JEA and City Hall, including a State Attorney\u2019s Office subpoena seeking Carrico\u2019s communications<\/a> related to a JEA board appointment. <\/p>\n Deegan cited the subpoena when questioning the legitimacy of the new committee.<\/p>\n MORE|Timeline: How \u2018big favor\u2019 texts sparked a JEA board shakeup and allegations about utility leadership<\/a>|Jacksonville City Council president issued subpoena after controversial \u2018big favor\u2019 text sent to JEA board member<\/a><\/p>\n In her statement, Deegan argued the OIG sought a narrow review \u2014 not a broader council-led investigation.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Inspector General asked for a \u2018limited-scope project,\u2019 not the spectacle of a politically charged council committee weaponized against our JEA,\u201d Deegan said.<\/p>\n Deegan also said the council president\u2019s role in forming the committee \u201cfurther calls into question its legitimacy,\u201d referencing the State Attorney investigation tied to his JEA board appointment.<\/p>\n Deegan said JEA has a professional board \u2014 the majority appointed by City Council \u2014 and that it is the board\u2019s job to provide oversight. She said the committee is \u201can overreach\u201d that would waste taxpayer dollars.<\/p>\n Read the Mayor\u2019s full statement below:<\/p>\n The Inspector General asked for a \u2018limited-scope project,\u2019 not the spectacle of a politically charged council committee weaponized against our JEA. 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.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s job to provide oversight. This new committee is an overreach that will only waste taxpayer dollars for personal political gain.<\/p>\n The thousands of hard-working employees who keep our lights on and water running deserve better.<\/p>\n MAYOR DEEGAN STATEMENT ON NEW CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE<\/p>\n Carrico responded to questions regarding the coinciding investigation from the State Attorney\u2019s Office. He said he has requested an extension to the deadline but is cooperating.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen [the Inspector General] requested the auditors, he needed [the] council president\u2019s authority to launch into that and to make sure that the auditors could participate, being that there\u2019s a multitude of issues,\u201d Carrico said. \u201cWe had conversations one-on-one and agreed that a special investigative committee would be the best way to get that resource so we could look into it independently.\u201d<\/p>\n What the new committee will investigate<\/p>\n Carrico said in a press release the Special Investigatory Committee will work with the City Council Auditor and other oversight offices and will focus on:<\/p>\n Determining, with the Council Auditor, the extent to which capacity fees may not have been collected in recent years and identifying the amount, if any, that may be owed to the city and JEA<\/p>\n Investigating whether JEA and the city are in compliance with bond commitments and reporting requirements, including any allegation that services were provided for free in violation of those commitments<\/p>\n Conducting an independent review of recent employee allegations regarding workplace culture at JEA, including allegations raised to the JEA Board about racism and a toxic culture<\/p>\n Evaluating JEA compliance with applicable whistleblower protection laws and policies<\/p>\n Proposing legislation as appropriate based on the committee\u2019s findings<\/p>\n Carrico appointed Councilmember Ron Salem as chair. Councilmembers Rory Diamond and Ju\u2019Coby Pittman will also serve on the committee.<\/p>\n At a press conference outside City Hall, Carrico said the committee would be able to compel witnesses to appear and testify under oath. He also said he plans to cooperate with the State Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n Salem and Diamond were both part of the probe into the attempted sale of JEA in 2019.<\/p>\n \u201cWe held a hearing for four hours in this building that led to resignations within days,\u201d Salem said.<\/p>\n News4JAX political analyst Rick Mullaney said the OIG letter sought the assistance of the City Council Auditor for a limited financial review focused on capacity fees.<\/p>\n \u201cThe letter did not ask for a city council investigation,\u201d Mullaney said. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean the city council can\u2019t initiate one, but the letter did not request one.\u201d<\/p>\n Mullaney said the capacity-fee issue could ultimately be a contract dispute involving agreements that go back decades, and warned that multiple controversies could erode public confidence in the utility.<\/p>\n JEA, in a statement on Wednesday, said it remains committed to delivering essential services and said it ensures employees have accessible resources to address personal and professional concerns.<\/p>\n JEA 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\u2019s values is accountability and respect for the more than 2,000 employees, who are the backbone of this organization.<\/p>\n JEA Spokesperson<\/p>\n Carrico\u2019s press release said the committee will begin work in the coming weeks and provide updates to the full City Council as information becomes available.<\/p>\n Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan criticized a new Jacksonville City Council special investigative committee targeting the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187973,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117,501,5896,15853],"class_list":["post-187972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jea","tag-kevin-carrico","tag-mayor-donna-deegan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187972","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=187972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}