JACKSONVILLE, Fla — Councilman Matt Carlucci has been speaking out against JEA's ongoing privatization talks for weeks. On Saturday night, Carlucci issued a statement saying that if the JEA Board of Directors does not end the talks and City Council does, the city could be sued.
First Coast News received this statement in full:
"It is hugely important that the JEA board end the ITN process at their next meeting. If JEA board ends this process to privatization and or recapitalization they are immune to lawsuits from the bidders per the ITN contractual agreement!
However, if the JEA board of directors passes this ITN on to the Jacksonville City Council, if we the Council stop the process we are opening our city to serious lawsuits as the ITN contract does not exempt the council.
The JEA board at their next meeting is at a serious crossroads. They can take the road of making one of the biggest and most embarrassing mistakes in our consolidated Government if they pass this to the council.
Or if they take the road to pulling the plug, stopping the process, this will be an important step in protecting our city and citizens and a breath of fresh air towards good government will sweep across our hometown.
Matt Carlucci
City Council at large gap 4"
Carlucci is one of several voices on the Jacksonville City Council calling for an end to JEA's privatization talks. He has also asked for a grand jury investigation into JEA.
Page 41 of the ITN, or "invitation to negotiate" which can be read here, states, "JEA reserves the right to cancel, postpone, modify, reissue, and/or amend this ITN at its discretion."
"We don't have that immunity to lawsuit," Carlucci said. "Then we're being handed a contract full of red flags, the whole process has nothing but red flags."
The ITN process is one of several "strategic planning" options that JEA has laid out as the utility plans for its future.
On Dec. 12, Mayor Lenny Curry's office sent JEA a letter. Curry asked the board for more transparency in the privatization process, as well as more details to be provided surrounding the other options laid out.
The same day as Curry's letter to the board, the Jacksonville Civic Council penned their own letter to Jacksonville City Council.
The letter read, in part, "JEA and the current administration have not made a credible business case that the utility is in a “financial death spiral,” and it appears clear that JEA is utilizing the ITN process to circumvent transparency requirements."
That letter, as well as Curry's, can be found here.
The JEA Board of Directors' next scheduled meeting is on Jan. 28. Mayor Curry is asking for the bidding deadline to be met around that time.
First Coast News reached out to JEA for comment on Carlucci's statement. JEA Board Chair April Green responded with the following:
"We appreciate Councilman Carlucci’s point of view. We look forward to working with him, along with the entire Council to address their concerns."