The Florida-Times Union by David Bauerlein
January 25, 2020
A month after JEA pledged to become more transparent in wake of canceling privatization sales talks, JEA is dealing with fresh criticism that it didn’t tell the “entire story” back when it was pushing the case of exploring privatization.
When the JEA board meets Tuesday, interim CEO Melissa Dykes will update the board on the agency’s commitment to be more open with the public, including plans for a series of town halls across the city.
Even as JEA seeks to regain public trust, the City Council Auditor’s Office issued a memo that raised new questions about how JEA executives presented information Dec. 9 to a City Council committee when negotiations to potentially sell JEA were still going full bore.
Those questions will come up again when a newly created City Council investigative committee spends at least the next four months examining a host of issues swirling around JEA.
“I think if we know anything, it’s that JEA leadership at the time was incredibly selective about what they shared with council and the (JEA) board,” said City Council member Rory Diamond, who will be chairman of the investigative committee.