Let’s Get Back to the Basics at JTA

[jaxlongtimer]

^ I think that the City's head of public works and planning departments should play some role in the JTA Board process whether voting or ex-officio.  The lack of collaboration between JTA and City departments/needs is well known.  If we are ever going to have a legitimate planning process and infrastructure efficiencies, these connections needs to be made stronger.

[marcuscnelson]

The fundamental idea behind my suggestion was getting local experts on the board that are knowledgeable about transportation, planning, and local/regional policy. Adding the ED of the TPO and Regional Council are the best ways to do so, imo. This would put Jeff Sheffield (Masters in Planning with 30 years of experience) and Beth Payne (Masters in Planning with 25 years of experience) on the Board. Some boards have requirements to appoint people with certain skills (i.e 1 engineer, 1 transportation planner, 1 architect, etc). However, due to professional conflicts of interest it would be difficult to find anyone who can serve.

I agree that the mayoral appointments have been disappointing though. Another option worth considering is requiring one of the appointees to be a City Council member that is nominated by City Council (not the mayor). That way you may end up getting a Council person with an alternative viewpoint of the Mayor.

I've met Mr. Sheffield, and I've spoken with him about the U2C Program and JTA before. I hesitate to say that it would be ideal for him to become additionally responsible for overseeing JTA on top of all his existing responsibilities at the TPO. I don't think transit is his forte and that this is something he would have an interest in as an added part of his job. Coordination with the TPO and NEFRC and the City ought to improve for sure, but I'm not sure adding to their staff workloads with new, unpaid oversight responsibilities addresses that.

In theory the Council option would be good too, except given the last three Council Liaisons (Rory Diamond, Rahman Johnson, Ju'Coby Pittman) to the JTA Board, it's unclear that they would actually do a better job of picking board members either. Ultimately Council are the ones who allowed the LOGT to hand a quarter billion dollars to the questionable U2C program (even granting the shift in funds to the Emerald Trail).

This brings me back to what I was saying earlier, in that I'm having a hard time figuring out what option gives us board members who actually care about transit working well, who will take their roles seriously and do the due diligence to avoid getting one over on them by whatever nonsense staff might bring them, without just being hatchet people for more driving everywhere. This seems to be a problem for transit agencies across the country, so I'm not immediately sure how especially in Jacksonville one might avoid it.

[jaxlongtimer]

^To add, my observation of the TPO is they are mostly all about road building/expansion/improvements, especially the interstates/beltways/state roads.  They throw a few bones to bike and pedestrian safety.  I don't see much interest in mass transit there.  I would think they would be yelling from the rooftops if they did care, leading the charge for regional and intra-city fixed rail solutions that would be much further along than the near-nothing we have now.

I just looked at the TPO's October board minutes and other than a feeble JTA report, I didn't see any talk of mass transit.  I also looked at the last several years of their "planning" studies and saw no mass transit ones.  If they are doing mass transit, I don't see it on their web pages.  Clearly, not front and center, if they are doing anything at all.

[marcuscnelson]

^ Right, there are TPOs/MPOs elsewhere that do take great interest in transit and are strong advocates to push for better planning that accounts for it as an alternative to roadway expansion, but the NFTPO isn't really one of them. That's not necessarily Mr. Sheffield's fault, but it's a matter of the priorities the TPO has been given by those who oversee it, and likely also the attitude JTA has held in monopolizing public discourse on transit while not really believing in transit.

We certainly ought to be at a point in which the counties and cities in this region realize the math in that we cannot keep expecting everyone to just drive everywhere all the time forever, but obviously there's also a great deal of interest ideologically and financially in ignoring that math or grasping for whatever excuse to not change tact. The ditch JTA has driven itself into the last decade has certainly not helped matters.

[Tacachale]

The fundamental idea behind my suggestion was getting local experts on the board that are knowledgeable about transportation, planning, and local/regional policy. Adding the ED of the TPO and Regional Council are the best ways to do so, imo. This would put Jeff Sheffield (Masters in Planning with 30 years of experience) and Beth Payne (Masters in Planning with 25 years of experience) on the Board. Some boards have requirements to appoint people with certain skills (i.e 1 engineer, 1 transportation planner, 1 architect, etc). However, due to professional conflicts of interest it would be difficult to find anyone who can serve.

I agree that the mayoral appointments have been disappointing though. Another option worth considering is requiring one of the appointees to be a City Council member that is nominated by City Council (not the mayor). That way you may end up getting a Council person with an alternative viewpoint of the Mayor.

I've met Mr. Sheffield, and I've spoken with him about the U2C Program and JTA before. I hesitate to say that it would be ideal for him to become additionally responsible for overseeing JTA on top of all his existing responsibilities at the TPO. I don't think transit is his forte and that this is something he would have an interest in as an added part of his job. Coordination with the TPO and NEFRC and the City ought to improve for sure, but I'm not sure adding to their staff workloads with new, unpaid oversight responsibilities addresses that.

In theory the Council option would be good too, except given the last three Council Liaisons (Rory Diamond, Rahman Johnson, Ju'Coby Pittman) to the JTA Board, it's unclear that they would actually do a better job of picking board members either. Ultimately Council are the ones who allowed the LOGT to hand a quarter billion dollars to the questionable U2C program (even granting the shift in funds to the Emerald Trail).

This brings me back to what I was saying earlier, in that I'm having a hard time figuring out what option gives us board members who actually care about transit working well, who will take their roles seriously and do the due diligence to avoid getting one over on them by whatever nonsense staff might bring them, without just being hatchet people for more driving everywhere. This seems to be a problem for transit agencies across the country, so I'm not immediately sure how especially in Jacksonville one might avoid it.

With no disrespect to my city council colleagues, and understanding I can't get into much on this topic, I will say this: City Council picking appointments to major boards just doesn't work well. City council is a part time job, and moreover, council presidents do the picking, and they're only there for one year. Just look at the JEA board for what can happen in such a situation: https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2026/02/18/council-president-tells-jea-board-member-hes-replacing-him-because-he-owed-a-big-favor-to-his-boss-texts-show/

[marcuscnelson]

A thought that just occurred to me today:

The first of the buses purchased for the First Coast Flyer (specifically for the Green Line, although they might also be used on other portions of the Flyer network) should be reaching the end of their useful life in the next year or so. It might be beneficial to start thinking about what the future of JTA's bus fleet is going to look like, and what facility needs there are to support that.

I recall there being talk a few years ago about a study to evaluate future regional maintenance facilities as opposed to having everything be maintained on Myrtle Avenue, I have no idea if that study was completed or what its recommendations were. But especially now at a time where operating cost pressures are increasing, particularly with fuel costs, it might be worth looking closer at where it might make sense to consider shifting future fleet plans for if those facilities are to be built at some point in the future.

In terms of the Flyer fleet, I'd be very interested in the possibility of evaluating electrification again, since vendor capabilities have improved substantially since the days of Proterra or other earlier options, and we could genuinely leverage the electrical infrastructure built for the Skyway for charging alongside possibly adding some terminal chargers at the end of lines. The LOGT funding would also support the possibility of lowering overall costs through evaluating other vendors, such as the Solaris buses currently being built for San Francisco, Seattle, and potentially other agencies. Perhaps most critically, I believe it would be very valuable to consider using this procurement to make some changes to the onboard experience, with wider rear doors to support All Door Boarding and onboard bike racks, much like other BRT systems feature. Eventually that might also potentially entail new platforms for level boarding.

Since the Flyer appears set to be our primary rapid transit system going forward, there seems to be the need to really start looking at how to make it more of a rapid transit system, even if things like more dedicated lanes might just have to be off the table for now.

[jaxlongtimer]

The proverbial s--t finally hit the fan today as a JTA board member says JTA leadership straight up misled the board and is now calling for the resignations of all senior leaders and even offered to resign, himself, for failing to exercise appropriate oversight. 

All things I have been posting with others here on the Jaxson.  JTA needs to be overhauled from top to bottom:  mission (strictly MASS transit only), its charter, board configuration and how appointed, new transparency, budgeting, procurement and hiring processes, outside audits, etc.

JTA board member calls for resignation of authority's leaders
Daniel Vallencourt says he and his counterparts were misled about budget problems.

A Jacksonville Transportation Authority board member called for resignations of the organization's leadership, saying he and other board members were misled about the JTA's financial situation.

In an Oct. 26 news release, Daniel Vallencourt wrote that JTA's leadership, including former CEO Nat Ford, "painted a picture for the Board that did not reflect reality."

Vallencourt's news release followed layoffs and service cuts made by the authority to adjust for a $39 million year-over-year budget shortfall.

Vallencourt, who was nominated to JTA's board by Gov. Ron DeSantis in January 2026, said that JTA's leadership team withheld information from the board, and that leadership felt the board was "an inconvenience."

"As we work to right the ship, it is impossible to have confidence in those who remain from the original leadership team. They were part of the problem that got us here, and I believe the only way forward is a completely fresh start," Vallencourt wrote.

Vallencourt, the CEO of Vallencourt Construction Co., called for the resignations of interim CEO Cleveland Ferguson, Chief Operating Officer Jeffrey Smith and Chief of Public Affairs Jessica Shepler.

"Director Vallencourt raises the very questions the public, the JTA Board and the Jacksonville City Council are asking: What happened? Why did it happen? And who is responsible?" JTA spokesperson Lynn Opperman wrote in response to Vallencourt's release.

"Interim CEO Cleveland Ferguson and CFO Randall Barnes plan to address those questions directly at Wednesday's Board meeting."

Noting that he spoke for himself and not the full board, Vallencourt wrote that JTA had drawn on its reserve funds for a year before telling its board it was doing so. Leadership at the authority also presented budget deficits in a manner downplaying the impact of the shortfall, he claimed.

Vallencourt also raised issues about specific spending practices, including:

• JTA's board approved a fiscal year 2026 budget of $148.2 million, though JTA spent $181.1 million. Vallencourt asked who approved that spending, and who authorized reserve spending.

• JTA's leadership traveled to Germany and Japan while the authority was drawing from its reserves.

• The authority spent funds on training and consultants, though Vallencourt said he was unsure what the authority gained from those contracts. Vallencourt mentioned one company, Dream Builders Communication, that had been named in subpoenas as part of the state attorney general's criminal investigation into JTA. Dream Builders works in leadership development and executive coaching, according to its website.

• It appeared the board was not informed that the managing principal of the firm hired by JTA to conduct its CEO search, KL2 Connects, was also a JTA contractor whose firm had received hundreds of thousands of dollars for past work.

"The search firm would help select the next CEO, who could then turn around and keep hiring him," Vallencourt wrote. "JTA's procurement director has since confirmed in writing that this was a real, apparent or potential conflict of interest."

• JTA's headquarters, located in the LaVilla neighborhood, is consistently empty, Vallencourt said, asking how often JTA's executives were showing up to work on-site.

Saying that he deserved some of the blame for JTA's financial issues for failing to exercise proper oversight, Vallencourt offered his resignation to DeSantis.

"Originally, I was one of the biggest supporters of Nat Ford and the entire leadership team. I bought into the narrative and should have done a better job of verifying what I was being told," Vallencourt wrote.

"I should have demanded the raw numbers: a balance sheet, a statement of cash flows, and an accounts payable summary. I didn't, and I own that. Oversight was part of my job, and I failed to do it adequately. I deeply regret that," he wrote.

"Governor DeSantis appointed me to this Board. He would be well justified to ask for my resignation, and if he asks for it, I will readily provide it. Until that happens, I will do all that I can to fix JTA's problems and make sure something like this never happens again."

Vallencourt's letter came amid multiple investigations into JTA and its financial spiral.

The authority, after reporting back-to-back years with budget deficits, came into fiscal year 2027 with a $39 million shortfall. To adjust for decreased revenues, JTA announced in September it would lay off nearly 200 employees and cut or suspend some services. The authority has since borrowed $30 million from its Local Option Gas Tax revenues to pay down a line of credit and other debts.

Additionally, the Florida attorney general's office is conducting a criminal investigation into JTA and how its financial situation deteriorated. Media reports indicate the authority has received at least two subpoenas.

Additionally, Jacksonville City Council is beginning to seek its own answers, issuing a subpoena to Ford.

Ford, now leading Dallas Area Rapid Transit in Texas, failed to appear before the Council Finance Committee on Oct. 22, but committee members indicated they were working with Ford to find an appropriate time that he could testify before them.

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/news/2026/oct/26/jta-board-member-calls-for-resignation-of-authoritys-leaders/

[marcuscnelson]

Interim CEO Cleveland Ferguson announced at today's JTA board meeting that he will not seek the role permanently, and in fact will leave the authority entirely by March 2023.

https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/local/jta-interim-ceo-wont-seek-permanent-job-says-agency-had-no-guardrails/6SOVGBPLXNGYLLX7RKFO6KNVGI/

He also seemed to suggest that he was under pressure and overruled by other leaders, potentially including Nat Ford, to make certain choices and simply "figure it out."

[jaxlongtimer]

Like turning on the light in a room full of cockroaches  .  The real story coming out and Ford looking worse by the day as his #2 turns on him.  At this rate, will be surprised if Ford survives in Dallas for long.

And, looks like the JTA Team agrees with me, the Skyway has no future.  Already at least 3 years past their assessed close down date!  Financial and managerial scandal, Skyway and NAVI demise... all on my predicted bucket list for JTA  .

Nat Ford blamed for JTA's 'fiscal cliff'
Interim leader Cleveland Ferguson said the ex-CEO ignored financial advice from executive leadership.

In a 24-minute monologue, Jacksonville Transportation Authority interim CEO Cleveland Ferguson laid the blame for the authority's recent financial struggles on former CEO Nat Ford.

Speaking to JTA's board Oct. 28, Ferguson said Ford repeatedly ignored the advice of his executive leadership team, refusing to acknowledge fiscal realities while maintaining deficits in pursuit of policy goals.

Ferguson's statement, during which he cited his religious beliefs and obligations as a public servant, provided an inside look at what he said he saw while serving as Ford's second-in-command running JTA.

While staff repeatedly made requests for Ford to run the authority within its means, the CEO pushed ahead, Ferguson said,

"What pains me as a human being, what pains me as a public servant, is that too many times, our declarations of the questions that were on his slide were overruled by a policy decision," Ferguson said.

"'We're going to go in this direction, and damn it, you all are going to figure it out,'" Ferguson characterized Ford as saying.

Those decisions from Ford left the Downtown Skyway running three years longer than JTA's leadership felt it should have, Ferguson said. Development of the $65 million Neighborhood Autonomous Vehicle Innovation Program (NAVI), an autonomous transit system Downtown, was accelerated to "meet a mandate" and an "artificial deadline."

Ferguson, who withdrew his name from consideration as JTA's long-term CEO, asked that he not be held responsible for Ford's actions, saying that he, and the rest of JTA's staff, worked at the pleasure of the top executive.

"Florida statute has one employee in the statute: the executive director, and everyone else works for the executive director, and the only employee of the board is the executive director. So God bless me. I am accountable for everything that has happened on my watch (beginning) August 27, 2026," Ferguson said.

"But God bless us all. From December of 2012, the buck stopped with the CEO of this agency all the way through to Aug. 27, 2026."

Ford resigned from JTA on July 3, initially preparing to depart the authority in January 2027. However, after Ford was hired by Dallas Area Rapid Transit later that month, he pushed his departure up to October.

After Ferguson was named interim CEO, the authority said, Ford began working in an advisory capacity.

Ferguson said that after he took over as interim CEO in August, Ford was asked to step away from the top position to allow for a fresh start in the authority's leadership. From that point on, Ferguson said, leadership was focused on stabilizing the authority's finances.

During that time, Chief Financial Officer Randall Barnes informed the leadership team they were facing what board Chair Aundra Wallace called a "fiscal cliff" – a $39 million budget shortfall heading into fiscal year 2027, a $14 million increase from the expected deficit.

Based on those assessments, JTA announced in September it would pause and cut several services while laying off nearly 200 employees.

"Our employees have carried the consequences of that uncertainty through workforce reductions, furloughs and repeated organizational changes, all while continuing the daily work of operating a transit agency," Ferguson said.

"They deserve acknowledgment for that service. They also deserve an organization that makes clear decisions, consistent priorities, and follows through. That is the discipline that we are working to restore."

Ferguson said he was pleased with the work the leadership team did to better understand JTA's financial picture and rightsize the budget.

"I'm very proud of the 30 or so days that I had sitting in this role to demonstrate honest leadership, to demonstrate integrity, to empower this team that there are no sacred cows," Ferguson said.

"Regardless of vision, regardless of legacy, we have a duty to this community to discharge our public responsibility in the most appropriate way, and that is providing the basic services for us to be able to move forward."

Ferguson to remain as interim CEO

Ferguson's comments came two days after board member Daniel Vallencourt called for him, Chief Operating Officer Jeffrey Smith and Chief of Public Affairs Jessica Shepler to resign.

Vallencourt said JTA had not presented an accurate financial picture to board members.

Board member Max Glober and Chair Aundra Wallace both said the statements made by Vallencourt in his news release were accurate.

"I've got some choice four-letter words, but I can't use that in public. But the one word I will use is pissed. Seeing actual numbers and you not getting that information is what has (me) pissed," Ferguson said.

Vallencourt doubled down on those sentiments during the Oct. 28 board meeting before Ferguson's comments, but did not speak after Ferguson's remarks about Ford.

Instead, other board members backed Ferguson to remain on board as interim CEO.

"Cleveland, I have seen a difference with how we have been informed since you started," board member Elaine Brown said. "You have done an excellent job of making sure that everything that we're doing to move forward and to correct mistakes, you have kept us right in the loop to know what's going on."

Board members approved a measure Oct. 28 to authorize an independent third-party audit of the authority's finances. Glober said he would reserve his decision about any personnel matters until JTA received the results of that inquiry.

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/news/2026/oct/28/nat-ford-blamed-for-jtas-fiscal-cliff/

[marcuscnelson]

I'd really like to hear some more context of what exactly they had in mind with that statement. Somehow of all three original DPM programs, Jax has the shortest one, the only one that didn't commit to a normal modernization program this century, and the only one that instead way overshot for a decade trying to do something completely different and nonsensical.

Did that mean they thought there needed to be just an overhaul (like the Gateway report suggests), or a bigger system replacement, or did they seriously actually believe in throwing all that infrastructure away for nothing? We don't actually have it from the horse's mouth, but I would like to hear it.

[jaxlongtimer]

^ Marcus, best of luck in getting your clarifications.  I get it.

However, I don't think after what is coming out about JTA now plus the headwinds in the economy, that, aside from a few Skyway diehards, there will be any public or political will to salvage the Skyway.  Between its long time disappointing history full of failed overly optimistic promises and low ridership, NAVI and, now, a major JTA scandal, who would entrust JTA with spending hundreds of millions on the Skyway?  Credibility around it is shot to hell.

Either mothball it for a few decades when the climate for it might improve or "salvage" it as pedestrian pathway (maybe, again, like mothballing it, buying time to a future world for it).  If Curry was back as mayor, his "demolition derby" would probably just tear it down  .