Cavey answered questions for nearly two hours at City Hall, in what could be the committee\u2019s final meeting. Incoming council President Nick Howland told committee members he planned to issue a memo Friday outlining the future of the committee and its investigation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The investigation and committee has faced criticism from Mayor Donna Deegan, regional business leaders at the Jacksonville Civic Council, and City Council members from both sides of the isle.<\/p>\n
Council President Kevin Carrico launched the investigation<\/a> in March and was the first to make public allegations of workplace toxicity against Cavey. In February, a State Attorney\u2019s Office investigation subpoenaed documents from Carrico<\/a> linked to a withdrawn JEA board appointment he made to repay \u201ca big favor.\u201d<\/p>\n Cavey\u2019s two-hour hearing<\/p>\n Council Secretary and Legislative Council Jason Teal and committee members began the hearing by pressing Cavey on the transparency of the process of her own appointment as CEO.<\/p>\n Cavey was named JEA\u2019s permanent chief executive in a 5-2 vote by the board in September 2024. She previously served as interim after former CEO Jay Stowe resigned over spending concerns<\/a>.<\/p>\n Committee member Rory Diamond said he didn\u2019t blame her for the process but wanted to know if she raised concerns to the board about how discussions of her appointment were primarily done in one-on-one meetings outside the public view.<\/p>\n \u201cThere wasn\u2019t a single public meeting until you were nominated. Is that right? Nothing was public. There was nothing out there that you could watch or see until it was decided that a nomination is in front of the board, is that right?\u201d Diamond said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was done quickly, I\u2019ll say that,\u201d Cavey said. \u201cMostly because Jay (Stowe) was resigning and they needed an interim quickly. I\u2019d like to also add that anyone could have nominated anyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n Committee member Ju\u2019Coby Pittman asked Cavey whether she knew another employee \u2014 former JEA Chief Operating Officer Raynetta Curry Marshall \u2014 was interested in the CEO role. The JEA board did not perform a national search to replace Stowe. And the committee argued that the lack of an application process left out other JEA executives.<\/p>\n Cavey said she was unaware that Marshall was interested in the job and told the committee they never discussed it.\u00a0<\/p>\n That led to broader criticism by the committee of the way Cavey reworked her senior leadership team after she became CEO. They listed several executives whose positions were either eliminated or were dismissed.<\/p>\n The executives discussed were a handful of Black and Latino employees, and Pittman noted that Cavey\u2019s senior team had few African Americans. Pittman\u2019s point appeared to be directed at so far unsubstantiated claims levied by Carrico of racism in JEA\u2019s corporate headquarters.<\/p>\n They pressed Cavey on why Marshall\u2019s position was eliminated, and committee Chair Ron Salem asked why many of the positions were not publicly advertised to allow more people a chance to apply.\u00a0<\/p>\n Cavey argued that it\u2019s prerogative of JEA\u2019s CEO to pick her leadership team. She also pointed to the appointment of Charles Moreland in November 2024 as JEA\u2019s chief customer experience officer as an example of an African American in a senior role.<\/p>\n Pittman also asked Cavey why she wanted the general counsel\u2019s office to replace JEA Chief Legal Counsel Regina Ross. Cavey said it had to do with response time to questions.\u00a0<\/p>\n Without naming the employees, Pittman said she\u2019d heard from JEA employees who declined to speak publicly.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like based on information I\u2019ve received \u2014 I didn\u2019t go out and ask \u2014 I had staff contact me and they shared with me the culture issues,\u201d Pittman said. \u201cI was told \u2026 there was one individual walked out who was African American. The other white employees that worked, they\u2019d never been walked out.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSo that was an issue. I\u2019m just sharing. I don\u2019t know, I don\u2019t work there. I\u2019m just sharing with you some of the issues that were a concern,\u201d Pittman said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Call for Cavey\u2019s resignation<\/p>\n The committee also wanted to know if Cavey approached employees about a complaint brought in February about her leadership to then-board Vice Chair Rick Morales III. Cavey said it \u201ceventually came out,\u201d but she stopped short of saying she actively tried to find out who raised the concern.\u00a0<\/p>\n Cavey testified that she never agreed to resign when Morales asked her to leave the CEO position. Morales lost out on the board chair position<\/a> in late February when other board members were concerned he approached Cavey unilaterally. At the same meeting, the board also took a vote on confidence in Cavey.<\/p>\n There were multiple instances in Monday\u2019s hearing where Cavey said she did not recall interactions with employees, texts and conversations linked to her leadership style and workplace culture.<\/p>\n This frustrated committee members. But a city attorney representing Cavey reminded the council members that she was under oath and that was an acceptable response to questions.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s disturbing to me \u2014 I\u2019m not an attorney \u2014 but we waited three weeks for preparation and everything else in order to get Ms. Cavey here,\u201d Salem said. \u201cAnd I\u2019m under the assumption, if she does come with all this preparation time, we\u2019re going to get a lot of straight answers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Political influence at JEA?\u00a0<\/p>\n The committee also turned Monday to lobbying contracts JEA canceled with Ballard Partners<\/a>, a Florida-based firm that employs former Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry and former city Chief of Staff Jordan Elsbury.<\/p>\n The focus was a comment made in a recent employee survey that said leadership brought politics into its decision-making process.\u00a0<\/p>\n Diamond then questioned Cavey on whether the office of city Chief Administrative Officer Mike Weinstein had tried to influence her decisions or contracts entered into by JEA.\u00a0<\/p>\n Cavey said no. But this brought the city\u2019s general counsel, Michael Fackler, to the podium to remind the committee that there are active subpoenas from the State Attorney\u2019s Office and the State Attorney General as part of criminal investigations in part looking into Ballard\u2019s contracts with JEA.<\/p>\n Fackler also argued that the Ballard contracts were not included in Carrico\u2019s charge for the committee. Salem previously told Jacksonville Today the committee would not address the contracts<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Ballard contracts are also a subject of a state attorney\u2019s subpoena<\/a> of Carrico\u2019s records.\u00a0<\/p>\n JEA \u201cdoes not know if it is the subject, we do not know who is the subject of this. So this is an extremely sensitive area with potential criminal liability to the agency and to individuals,\u201d Fackler said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Diamond then accused the general counsel of \u201cworking so hard for the mayor, again\u201d before ending his line of questioning.\u00a0<\/p>\n JEA investigating CEO and HR chief<\/p>\n City Deputy General Counsel Kristy Gavin said an outside investigation into Cavey\u2019s conduct, stemming from any employee complaint made after the workplace allegations went public, will be complete in three weeks.\u00a0<\/p>\n Gavin said city lawyers are also supervising the investigation of a second complaint against Chief Human Resources Office Diane Moser. She said attorneys are conducting employee interviews as part of that probe, but no details have been released about the complaint.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/JEA-CEO-Vickie-Cavey-testifies-1024x469.webp\")
JEA CEO Vickie Cavey testifies Monday, June 22, 2026, in front of the Jacksonville City Council\u2019s Special Investigatory Committee on JEA. | City of Jacksonville<\/p>\n
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Jacksonville City Council member Matt Carlucci, left, decried the questions his colleagues asked during a City Council Special Investigatory Committee meeting on Monday, June 22, 2026, at City Hall. Carlucci and council President Kevin Carrico were among the four council members not on the committee who attended the meeting. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today<\/p>\n