JEA will not be sold at least for now. The board’s utility put a stop to negotiations with a unanimous vote Tuesday. The vote came after months of public outcry and a day after Mayor Lenny Curry requested the change.
A handful of Jacksonville city council members were in attendance and shared with the board their thoughts on priorities for the board moving forward.
“We must know where things went wrong, who did it and they must be held responsible," said District 1 Councilmember Joyce Morgan.
The obvious question for Councilmember Joyce Morgan -- where did the talk of a sale start in the first place?
“I think the investigations continue, I think the questions continue," said District 10 Councilmember Brenda Priestly Jackson.
Jackson called for stopping talks in early December. Jackson still stands behind a potential change in the city charter that could remove some decision making power from JEA’s hands.
"I think we have to look at how that came to be, what was the coordination with the executive staff and the board in terms of moving forward and how the public was not included," Jackson said.
“I highly recommend that we do a nationwide search for the very best," said at-large councilmember Matt Carlucci.
Meanwhile, councilmembers Carlucci and Wilson are asking for a change from the top now that former CEO Aaron Zahn is out.
“In my opinion, the first order of business should be to retain the most qualified CEO you can," said District 4 Councilmember Scott Wilson
For the second time, Melissa Dykes is sitting in as Interim CEO. It’s unclear if she’ll win the job, but members are calling for the search to start.
Others like Councilman Garrett Dennis want an entirely new executive staff.
“It’s time for a fresh start," Dennis said.
With Tuesday’s vote, all releasable documents that surrounded the potential sale become public. Documents that could answer a lot of questions.
The utility's goal is to release ITN replies from all 16 respondents by close of business on Friday, December 27.
According to JEA, Senior Leadership will be creating a document repository on jea.com that will include frequently requested documents. Additional staff is being added to fulfill the expected demand for public records requests.
The board of directors' next meeting is scheduled for January 28th.
During the meeting, Interim CEO Melissa Dykes said the potential sale of JEA has cost $10 million.
Councilman Ron Salem spoke in front of the board saying the board should fire Aaron Zahn, the former JEA CEO who is currently on administrative leave, with cause and fight against paying him any consultation fees.
In the end, the JEA Board unanimously approved the resolution to cancel the bidding process as recommended by Mayor Curry on Monday.
Curry called on the Board to hold the meeting after a series of 'missteps' over the past few months.
RELATED: Mayor Curry says 'ITN' bidding for JEA is off the table, describes 'missteps' over past few months
"I've asked the Board Chair to call a meeting to pull and put an end to the ITN process," Curry said to reporters on Monday. "Put an end to this option, which is one option of many... I've also asked the Board Chair, I'm going to reiterate, pull the process and make all information surrounding this and a part of this public as soon as possible."
First Coast News asked the Mayor about his previous stance on JEA, since he supported the pursuit of privatization when he was seeking reelection. The mayor said he only supported the process to find out the utility's value and open up for bids.
"I said I wouldn't be introducing any legislation to recapitalize. What happening in this process was the board was looking at multiple strategic options, one of which was the value, one option of five for a way forward," said Curry. "They took that initiative. I said I supported the process, I never said I support a privatization or recapitalization. I said it's part of the options that ought to be discussed."
In August, the mayor said selling JEA could make the city debt-free, but he insisted he would not be involved in the decision-making process.
Two weeks ago the mayor sent a letter to JEA board members suggesting they speed up the bidding process to be completed in January.