Scripted JEA Meating

[TheCat]

When JEA's chief executive officer walked into the Aug. 18 board of directors meeting, he had at least one reason to think it would be a good day.
Paul McElroy knew to a great degree of certainty that his boss, board chairwoman Helen Albee, would remark that the board "set some hefty goals for Paul, and he has met or exceeded all of them." McElroy knew she would then read through a list of many of his accomplishments, and he knew she'd end with this: "He is doing an excellent job in leading this organization and we are fortunate to have him at the helm during this very challenging time in our history."

Those words may have given him a well-founded confidence in what was going to happen in the next few minutes: The board would vote on a three-year contract extension to McElroy's contract, which would also come with a raise from $404,227 to $437,000 in base pay.

When the gavel did bang the meeting to a close, McElroy had indeed secured his job for three more years, thanks to a 6-1 board vote.

McElroy knew these details, the Times-Union learned examining hundreds of JEA emails obtained through a records request, because he coordinated with Albee and JEA marketing staffers days before that Aug. 18 meeting to produce and email to several board members a detailed, advance script of what Albee planned to say that day, a process that a leading state open-government advocate says subverted the Florida Government in the Sunshine Law.

"It's hugely problematic," said Barbara Petersen, president of the Florida First Amendment Foundation, a prominent open-government advocacy group. "It is a violation of the spirit and the intent of the law."

City General Counsel Jason Gabriel, whose office represents JEA, said Friday based on the limited information he had seen, it did not appear that JEA broke the law. However, Gabriel said the dissemination of the Aug. 18 script containing Albee's opinions to other board members should not be the way JEA routinely conducts its business.

The Times-Union discovered the Aug. 18 script, along with others from June and July, while reviewing emails JEA provided Friday morning and evening in response to the newspaper's broad request for nearly four months of emails among board members, McElroy and Melissa Charleroy, who works as an executive assistant for both the board and McElroy.

Asked Friday about the scripts, JEA officials said they had already made a decision this past week to change the way it handles scripts to ensure that detailed comments like the talking points Albee used for the Aug. 18 meeting would not be disseminated to other board members in advance.

That change, according to McElroy, was prompted by board member Husein Cumber and executive assistant Charleroy, who both recently questioned the process with McElroy. Likewise, Gabriel said his office was not aware of the script issue until a board member, whom he would not identify, recently met with an assistant general counsel about it. Cumber would not comment for the story.

At the Aug. 18 meeting, Cumber was the only board member to raise concerns over issues related to McElroy's contract extension and a JEA staff proposal for the board to authorize spending up to $3 million studying how to address its aging downtown headquarters...

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2015-09-19/story/scripted-comments-jea-board-meeting-draw-scrutiny-over-sunshine-law?utm_source=cx

[marksjax]

Well now we can see the 'mechanics' of what has been happening at these various board meetings for years.
As I have said on this forum before this is what in my opinion is wrong with how these boards operate. They rubber stamp everything, then give out raises and bonuses that are decided upon in advance. Now this sham has been exposed.
I am happy we finally have a mayor who recognizes the problem and who is (hopefully) not going to stand pat and let this continue.

[BridgeTroll]

Is a "Meating" a barbeque?   

[TheCat]

After Times-Union report, Curry asks 'what the hell' is going on at JEA, raises legal and governance concerns

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2015-09-21/story/after-times-union-report-curry-asks-what-hell-going-jea-raises-legal-and

Mayor Curry meeting with JEA board members next week to discuss Times-Union story on scripted talking points

http://jacksonville.com/news/2015-09-22/story/mayor-curry-meeting-jea-board-members-next-week-discuss-times-union-story

[mtraininjax]

The new Mayor wants to fix JEA? Doesn't he have enough on his plate? SMH.

[marty904]

At least we are actually hearing from him on something... Just had a conversation today about how the mayors office has been as quiet as the 28th floor of the Barnett building at 3am, since Mayor Brown left.  Alvin was always in the public's eye and ear, the FNG has been out so little, I literally would walk past him on the sidewalk and not know who he is!

[Tacachale]

At least we are actually hearing from him on something... Just had a conversation today about how the mayors office has been as quiet as the 28th floor of the Barnett building at 3am, since Mayor Brown left.  Alvin was always in the public's eye and ear, the FNG has been out so little, I literally would walk past him on the sidewalk and not know who he is!

Yeah, he does seems to be working rather than just getting his photo taken around town.

[Tacachale]

At least we are actually hearing from him on something... Just had a conversation today about how the mayors office has been as quiet as the 28th floor of the Barnett building at 3am, since Mayor Brown left.  Alvin was always in the public's eye and ear, the FNG has been out so little, I literally would walk past him on the sidewalk and not know who he is!

Yeah, he does seems to be working rather than just getting his photo taken around town.

hard work coming up with ways to make the entire city administration partisan, I guess.

Nah, just the board appointments

[Tacachale]

At least we are actually hearing from him on something... Just had a conversation today about how the mayors office has been as quiet as the 28th floor of the Barnett building at 3am, since Mayor Brown left.  Alvin was always in the public's eye and ear, the FNG has been out so little, I literally would walk past him on the sidewalk and not know who he is!

Yeah, he does seems to be working rather than just getting his photo taken around town.

hard work coming up with ways to make the entire city administration partisan, I guess.

Nah, just the board appointments

so far at least.....Its only been a couple of months....

Ah well, at least he's not secretly meeting with City Council members to thwart LGBT protections, amirite?

[spuwho]

Interesting in that the JEA board member who protested and voted against it all was Husein Cumber, EVP at FECI and one of the public faces of All Aboard Florida.

At least someone on the JEA board had the conscience to speak up and object.

Sounds like the JEA board needs some turnover, independence and finally, some governance training.