{"id":197251,"date":"2026-03-19T01:43:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T01:43:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/197251\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T01:43:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T01:43:15","slug":"jacksonville-city-council-members-question-timing-motive-of-jeas-internal-review-of-company-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/197251\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville City Council members question timing, motive of JEA’s internal review of company culture"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jacksonville\u2019s<\/a> public utility JEA<\/a> is looking within for answers about whether employees are happy and if business is being done correctly, saying the effort is independent of an ongoing City Council probe<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The push is framed as \u201cproactive and deliberate steps to ensure a safe, respectful, and productive work environment for all employees.\u201d But City Council members see them as too little, too late, and say investigations into the utility will continue.<\/p>\n

The utility has commissioned its outside employment law firm, Jackson Lewis<\/a>, for an \u201cindependent, third-party review\u201d of \u201crecent allegations regarding workplace culture.\u201d Lawyer\u00a0Cherie Silberman<\/a> of Tampa will conduct the review, which will begin next month.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs part of her work, Silberman will evaluate JEA\u2019s employment policies, conduct interviews with leadership and employees, and take any additional steps necessary to provide a thorough and objective assessment,\u201d the utility says.<\/p>\n

Management will not steer the process.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

An employee engagement survey will be taken by Energage<\/a> next month also.<\/p>\n

The moves come after the City Council held its first meeting of the JEA Special Investigative Committee amid questions about the utility\u2019s activities, including\u00a0unpaid capacity fees<\/a>\u00a0and concerns about\u00a0its culture<\/a>\u00a0that led City Council President\u00a0Kevin Carrico<\/a> to say he\u2019d heard from employees regarding alleged \u201cracism\u201d in the utility.<\/p>\n

Carrico is skeptical of the timing and vows that the Special Investigative Committee will proceed.<\/p>\n

\u201cJEA\u2019s sudden decision to launch its own \u2018independent\u2019 review comes far too late \u2013 and only after months of unanswered questions, mounting concerns about workplace culture, missing funds, and skyrocketing utility costs for ratepayers. Quite frankly, this feels like a Johnny-come-lately response prompted not by accountability, but by the City Council asking tough questions,\u201d he told Florida Politics on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a clear lack of trust \u2014 and for good reason. The idea that JEA can effectively investigate itself after these ongoing issues strains credibility with the very ratepayers we represent,\u201d Carrico added. \u201cThat is exactly why the Council established a Special Investigative Committee to ensure a truly independent, transparent review on behalf of the people of Jacksonville. The Committee will continue its work without hesitation and remains committed to getting to the bottom of these serious concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Rory Diamond, a prominent voice in favor of changes at the utility, echoes Carrico\u2019s consternation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would have been great if their Board Chair had initiated such a review before he ignored all the allegations and bullied a vote of confidence. Day late and a dollar short,\u201d the Republican from the Beaches said.<\/p>\n

Ju\u2019Coby Pittman,\u00a0a Democrat on the committee, expressed cultural concerns during Tuesday\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can share with you what I\u2019ve heard. There is one person who is advocating for about 15 other people. They are afraid because they don\u2019t want to lose their job,\u201d Pittman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I\u2019m just sharing with you just the people who are currently here. I\u2019ve also had an opportunity to talk to people who were employed at JEA, and they were terminated. And some of the reasons for them being terminated are just unacceptable. And a few of them are also who were in management and who had been at JEA for several years.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jacksonville\u2019s public utility JEA is looking within for answers about whether employees are happy and if business is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195723,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[91546,91547,91548,116,4040,118,117,501,91549,5896,78189],"class_list":["post-197251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-cherie-silberman","tag-energage","tag-jackson-lewis","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-city-council","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jea","tag-jea-sic","tag-kevin-carrico","tag-vickie-cavey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197251","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=197251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}