{"id":420601,"date":"2026-10-06T21:24:07","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T21:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/420601\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T21:24:07","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T21:24:07","slug":"florida-ag-subpoenas-mayor-deegan-over-meeting-with-former-jta-board-member-who-warned-of-financial-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/420601\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida AG subpoenas Mayor Deegan over meeting with former JTA board member who warned of financial crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has subpoenaed Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan, demanding records from a 2025 meeting with a former Jacksonville Transportation Authority board member who says she raised alarms about the agency\u2019s finances long before its collapse.<\/p>\n

The subpoena requires Deegan to produce all records, emails, text messages, and other communications related to a March 3, 2025, meeting that included Deegan and former JTA board member Megan Hayward<\/a>. Prosecutors cited Deegan\u2019s own public statement \u2014 \u201cI went back and looked at the notes of my meeting with her\u201d \u2014 as a basis for the records request. <\/p>\n

The deadline for compliance is Oct. 20, 2026.<\/p>\n

What prosecutors are asking for<\/p>\n

The Subpoena covers a narrow 10-day window: March 1\u201310, 2025. It seeks all records \u201cin the possession, custody, or control of the City and its employees,\u201d including materials stored on personal devices used for city business.<\/p>\n

The subpoena specifically references handwritten notes, emails, text messages, meeting recordings, and application-based communications.<\/p>\n

Mayor\u2019s office responds<\/p>\n

Deegan\u2019s office confirmed the subpoena and said her office would cooperate with prosecutors \u2014 while pushing back on several details cited in the records demand.<\/p>\n

\u201cJTA is a regional state transportation agency with state employees, a majority of board members who are appointed by the Governor, and a budget that is reviewed and approved by the Jacksonville City Council,\u201d the mayor\u2019s office said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The statement also addressed Hayward\u2019s concerns, saying the city took them seriously: \u201cThe City Council even held up Board Member Brown\u2019s nomination until the concerns were addressed. Ultimately, the City Council indicated they were satisfied by these answers and unanimously confirmed Mrs. Brown.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the question of the notes referenced in the subpoena, the mayor\u2019s office disputed an apparent discrepancy in who attended the meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo clear up any confusion on the former board member\u2019s part, the owner of the notes and staff member who joined is Chief Communications Officer Phil Perry. Deputy Chief of Staff Joe Inderhees did not attend the meeting and has never met Mrs. Hayward.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mayor\u2019s office said the notes \u2014 described as personal and never shared with another person \u2014 would still be turned over.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the spirit of transparency, these notes will be provided after they are reviewed by the Office of General Counsel and delivered to the Office of Statewide Prosecution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who is Megan Hayward, and what did she warn?<\/p>\n

Hayward served on the JTA board for roughly a year and a half before being removed. She has said she repeatedly raised concerns about spending on NAVI, JTA\u2019s autonomous vehicle program, whose cost grew by more than $20 million beyond its original projection of about $250 million, according to Hayward.<\/p>\n

\u201cI looked at Donna before I left, and I said, if you guys do not take this seriously, this is going to be your JEA scandal,\u201d Hayward told News4JAX in September. \u201cAnd here we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hayward has also called for a criminal investigation into the agency\u2019s use of federal funds. \u201cWhen you\u2019re talking about federal money, it\u2019s a big deal what happens,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

JTA\u2019s financial crisis explained<\/p>\n

JTA is now in the middle of a full-blown financial emergency. The agency faces a nearly $40 million budget shortfall that has already triggered close to 200 layoffs and forced cuts to transit service across the region.<\/p>\n

The state attorney general\u2019s office previously subpoenaed JTA<\/a> itself \u2014 seeking records on tuition reimbursement, contracts with an organizational development firm, and ridership numbers for NAVI. Prosecutors are also examining communications involving former CEO Nat Ford.<\/p>\n

Councilman Rory Diamond, JTA\u2019s city council liaison, flagged a major concern about NAVI ridership data: federal and state transit funding is often tied to the number of riders served.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we lied about how many people that are riding, then we got more money than we deserve. And that\u2019s fraud,\u201d Diamond said. \u201cThat\u2019s criminal. That\u2019s a problem if it happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clay County has since voted to end its funding agreement with JTA, expanding the fallout beyond Duval County.<\/p>\n

City council moves to stabilize JTA<\/p>\n

City Council President Nick Howland reconvened the Financial Audit and Oversight Committee to investigate JTA\u2019s finances. Councilman Ron Salem, one of three members on the committee, is pushing for an outside audit on top of the committee\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it needs to be somebody from the outside who\u2019s never had anything to do with JTA to determine what exactly happened, educate us, and we\u2019ve got to make sure it never happens again,\u201d Salem said.<\/p>\n

Council leaders are also weighing a proposal to redirect $30 million in existing local gas tax funds to help JTA cover a line of credit and avoid further service disruptions \u2014 without raising taxes. The full City Council is expected to vote on the measure Oct. 13.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has subpoenaed Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan, demanding records from a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":420602,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29,116,799],"class_list":["post-420601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-jacksonville","tag-jta"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420601","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=420601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/420602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}