{"id":195864,"date":"2026-03-18T04:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T04:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/195864\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T04:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T04:24:09","slug":"jea-committees-first-meeting-hits-roadblock-over-access-to-former-utility-legal-counsel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/195864\/","title":{"rendered":"JEA committee\u2019s first meeting hits roadblock over access to former utility legal counsel"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 The Jacksonville City Council\u2019s Special Investigatory Committee <\/a>focused on JEA held its first meeting Tuesday, but the session quickly shifted from broad plans for an investigation to a dispute over a potential key witness.<\/p>\n

The committee was formed by City Council President Kevin Carrico following a request from the city\u2019s Office of Inspector General for assistance related to allegations involving JEA, including whether the utility failed to collect certain water and sewer capacity fees from some commercial customers over a period of years.<\/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

Carrico appointed Councilmember Ron Salem \u2014 the City Council\u2019s liaison to JEA \u2014 as chair of the committee. Councilmembers Rory Diamond and Ju\u2019Coby Pittman are also serving as members.<\/p>\n

The committee\u2019s first steps on workplace culture include an outside survey of current employees, with Salem saying the committee received a list of 147 managers and above \u2014 employees he said could have had interaction with JEA CEO Vickie Cavey. Salem said a separate survey would be offered to former employees who want to participate.<\/p>\n

Dispute over questioning Regina Ross<\/p>\n

The meeting\u2019s most contentious issue involved Regina Ross, who previously served as JEA\u2019s legal counsel in her role with the city\u2019s Office of General Counsel (OGC). Committee members said auditors need to speak with Ross to move forward on the capacity-fee portion of the review.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think these are questions that can be answered by other attorneys at OGC or anyone else. I think it really needs to be her,\u201d Salem said.<\/p>\n

Salem said the committee was told Ross would not be available to answer questions due to attorney-client privilege concerns tied to her prior role.<\/p>\n

Diamond criticized that position during the meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI find it very disturbing that at the beginning of the investigation to start throwing up roadblocks,\u201d Diamond said.<\/p>\n

The dispute raised questions about whether testimony could be compelled. City Council attorney Jason Teal told members the committee has the authority to request participation and, if necessary, use other options to compel testimony. Teal cited subpoenas as an option with failure to comply leading to potential fines or jail time.<\/p>\n

Chief Deputy General Counsel Dylan Reingold told the committee that the office plans to help.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe plan to participate and assist the auditors and this committee as the office of general counsel to the best and fullest of our abilities,\u201d Reingold said.<\/p>\n

Reingold also objected to suggestions that the committee might seek to arrest Ross. <\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly hoping that the city council does not do that,\u201d Reingold added. Salem and Council President Carrico called that remark inappropriate.<\/p>\n

Committee votes and what happens next<\/p>\n

By the end of the meeting, the committee voted to send a letter to JEA asking the utility to waive any potential legal privilege that could prevent testimony or the release of documents related to the review.<\/p>\n

The committee also requested records related to employee hiring, promotions and demotions and approved steps aimed at preserving records, including a litigation hold notice.<\/p>\n

When asked about the timeline and when people can expect results, Salem said:<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I think a lot of it depends upon Regina Ross and our ability to access her.\u201d<\/p>\n

The committee\u2019s next meeting is scheduled for Monday at 1 p.m., when former JEA chief of staff Kurt Wilson is expected to testify. Salem also encouraged anyone with relevant information to contact his office.<\/p>\n

\u201cGet ready for the survey and express yourself in the survey,\u201d Salem said. \u201cIt\u2019ll be anonymous. Nobody will be able to know that you answered those questions and that\u2019s the importance of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 The Jacksonville City Council\u2019s Special Investigatory Committee focused on JEA held its first meeting Tuesday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195865,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117,501,5896],"class_list":["post-195864","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"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195864","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=195864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}