JACKSONVILLE, Fla — Weeks after the first meeting of a special investigative committee tasked with investigating JEA, the utility has not produced a single document requested as part of the committee's probe.
The committee, announced by Council President Scott Wilson in January, began their probe by making an 84-point request of discovery items related to the utility's failed privatization and bonus plan.
Now, members of the committee are expressing frustration that the utility has not only failed to produce any documents but has also hired a Tampa-based law firm to scan the records to suggest redactions.
"JEA is not its own entity, it's not a private company," said District 13 Councilman Rory Diamond, who is also chairing the committee. "It's part of the city of Jacksonville, so they can't just hide documents from us."
Diamond said the committee expects answers relating to the request by their next meeting Monday evening, and that the committee is prepared to subpoena the utility.
"We will subpoena them or we'll just go down there and get them ourselves," he said. "Many of the people who are supposed to produce these documents are the people we're supposed to be investigating. So absolutely they'd like to see this take months and months."
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for JEA said that around 100,000 records have been collected for the request as of Thursday and that each must be reviewed for potential exemptions to public records.
Councilwoman Randy Defoor, another committee member, said she was frustrated with the speed of discovery item production.
"They are definitely giving us the strong arm in providing us documents that have been requested," she said. "We're not getting the information that has been requested, and it appears to be intentional."
Hill Ward Henderson, a corporate litigation law firm, was brought on by the city's Office of General Counsel to assist in the request. The OGC provides legal services for city branches, including city council and JEA.
Diamond said JEA made the request for Hill Ward Henderson to be brought in after turning down a local law firm, Nelson Mullins. Just last week, lawyers from Nelson Mullins presented due diligence findings on the utility to the committee after the firm was not selected to represent city council.
"JEA is saying that they have a conflict with the city of Jacksonville's lawyers, so they had to go out and get their own law firm," Diamond said. "It makes no sense at all. They don't need another law firm, the last thing we need is another legal bill."
The request made by the OGC touches on a number of significant items, including documents related to:
- The controversial Performance Unit Plan (PUP), which could have resulted in a payout for employees and leadership if the utility was sold.
- Texts and emails from ousted CEO Aaron Zahn, and other members of the leadership team.
- Communications between JEA and several outside law firms that were contracted during the invitation-to-negotiate (ITN) process.
- Communications to or from Mayor Lenny Curry and Chief of Staff Brian Hughes.
At a Monday agenda-setting meeting for the committee, members of city council again pushed for JEA Interim CEO Melissa Dykes to be deposed as part of the investigation.
A JEA spokesperson said via e-mail, "Like other members of the JEA senior leadership team, Melissa Dykes will cooperate if a request for deposition is made."
Diamond said that while the document delay has been a roadblock, the committee is still pushing forward and plans to begin interviewing lower level JEA employees before moving up the chain to senior leadership.