JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 JEA received a subpoena on Friday from State Attorney Melissa Nelson\u2019s office seeking a broad swath of communication records about the agency\u2019s CEO, Vickie Cavey, as well as discussions involving City Council President Kevin Carrico and a high-powered lobbying firm that employs former Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry.<\/p>\n
The subpoena, obtained by the Florida Trib and News4JAX, suggests prosecutors remain interested in probing what has mushroomed into an increasingly bitter but convoluted feud that has stirred internal anxiety within JEA, which has struggled to find stability for years, and reignited longstanding political divisions between the City Council\u2019s Republican leadership and the Democratic mayor.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors are demanding records related to numerous controversies that have swirled around JEA and the City Council since February, when Carrico, the council president, attempted to replace a member of JEA\u2019s board of directors with his boss at the Boys & Girls Club of Northeast Florida, describing the move in a text message as a \u201cbig favor\u201d for a friend<\/a>.<\/p>\n Carrico responded to public criticism of his decision by accusing Cavey of overseeing a toxic and racist culture at JEA, though without providing any specific accusations of wrongdoing. <\/p>\n Nelson\u2019s office sent Carrico a subpoena<\/a> for more of his communication records after that text thread \u2014 between Carrico and a JEA board member whom he was hoping to replace with his boss, Paul Martinez \u2014 became public.<\/p>\n Since then, the Republican-controlled City Council formed an investigative committee to examine the workplace culture at JEA<\/a> under Cavey, while Mayor Donna Deegan, a Democrat, has defended the agency and characterized Carrico\u2019s allegations as a \u201csmear campaign\u201d because Cavey nixed a lobbying contract with Ballard Partners, a well-connected lobbying firm that employs Curry, the city\u2019s former Republican mayor.<\/p>\n The subpoena to JEA indicates Nelson\u2019s prosecutors are casting a wide net to learn more about the back-and-forth allegations.<\/p>\n It demands JEA turn over emails, texts and other communication records since July between the agency\u2019s board members about appointments to the board of directors; any board discussions about Cavey; any communication records to or from Cavey\u2019s former chief of staff, Kurt Wilson, that involve Carrico or board member Ric Morales, who had asked Cavey to step down from her post; any communications to or from Ballard Partners; and any records that contain a mix of key words, including \u201cracist\u201d and \u201ctoxic.\u201d<\/p>\n JEA, Jacksonville\u2019s city-owned electric, water and sewer utility, has weathered controversy since Curry\u2019s tenure in office, during which one of his allies, Aaron Zahn<\/a>, took over the agency and attempted to privatize it. <\/p>\n