{"id":421395,"date":"2026-10-07T18:08:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T18:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/421395\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T18:08:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T18:08:10","slug":"deegan-says-shes-happy-to-cooperate-with-florida-ag-on-jta-records-request","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/421395\/","title":{"rendered":"Deegan says she\u2019s \u2018happy\u2019 to cooperate with Florida AG on JTA records request"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan said Wednesday that her office is happy to cooperate with Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier\u2019s subpoena for records from a 2025 meeting with a former JTA board member<\/a> who said she warned about the agency\u2019s pending financial crisis.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Former JTA board member says she warned officials about agency\u2019s financial situation<\/a><\/p>\n

The subpoena seeks records, including notes, emails and messages, related to a March 3, 2025, meeting with former JTA board member Megan Hayward. Deegan said Wednesday she would provide the records to prosecutors and make them public through the proper process.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re always happy to cooperate,\u201d Deegan said during an interview on WJCT\u2019s First Coast Connect. She said she did not want to set a precedent by making public records that are not required to be disclosed.<\/p>\n

The JTA shortfall<\/a> has led to nearly 200 layoffs and planned cuts to transit service. The agency has said it will reduce its fiscal 2027 budget by $39 million, suspend Skyway passenger service and pause its NAVI autonomous shuttle service.<\/p>\n

Hayward, who served on the JTA board for about 18 months, has said she repeatedly raised concerns about the agency\u2019s finances and spending on NAVI. She told News4JAX she warned Deegan and other city officials before leaving the board.<\/p>\n

\u201cI looked at Donna and Joe before I left, and I said, \u2018If you guys do not take this seriously, this is going to be your JEA scandal,\u2019 and here we are,\u201d Hayward said.<\/p>\n

Deegan disputed Hayward\u2019s characterization and said a comparison with JEA was \u201ca non-starter.\u201d She said she has nothing to gain from JTA\u2019s financial problems and pointed to the JEA case, in which former CEO Aaron Zahn was sentenced to prison after a scheme involving an attempted sale of the public utility.<\/p>\n

Deegan also said she invited Hayward to the mayor\u2019s office to hear her concerns. The mayor\u2019s office has said Chief Communications Officer Phil Perry attended the meeting, while Deputy Chief of Staff Joe Inderhees did not.<\/p>\n

The scrutiny comes as city leaders consider financial support for JTA. A City Council committee advanced a plan to direct $30 million in existing local gas-tax funds to help stabilize the agency<\/a>. The full council is expected to vote on the proposal Oct. 13. The funds would not require a tax increase and would have to be repaid by Sept. 30, 2037.<\/p>\n

Deegan also signed an executive order<\/a> encouraging financial, audit, ethics and public-records training for people appointed to city boards and independent agencies. The order calls for leaders of independent agencies to certify financial information provided to the city.<\/p>\n

JTA\u2019s finances are expected to be discussed at the Financial Audit and Oversight Committee meeting Friday at 9:30 a.m.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan said Wednesday that her office is happy to cooperate with Florida…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":421396,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[5890,28,30,29,116,799],"class_list":["post-421395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-donna-deegan","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\/421395","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=421395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421395\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}