JEA Board to Consider Mass Layoffs/Privitization

[Gambit80]

https://www.news4jax.com/i-team/2020/06/09/jea-places-most-of-its-senior-leadership-on-leave/

[jaxlongtimer]

Must reading:  "Money and Power," an extensive article linked below that chronicles and summarizes from beginning to end the efforts to sell JEA.  A great archival piece put together by 4 of the T-U's best reporters and columnists.  Although lengthy, it is a breezy read and doesn't require much time to take it all in.

Curry and Zahn both came out of this smelling pretty awful as we already know.  Can't wait to see the drama generated as they go at each other in a public forum following all the investigations and litigation underway and as others work to salvage their own reputations.  Knives out!

Given today's events, reading how Curry handled the RNC Convention is deja vu of his JEA sale approach:  A hell or high water, transparency-lacking, non-collaborative effort that ultimately crumbles with Curry trying to disassociate himself from the resulting debacle.

https://stories.usatodaynetwork.com/moneyandpower/home/site/jacksonville.com/

[jaxlongtimer]

Well, here is the first public official alleging "criminal" actions took place at JEA, along with City Council requests for testimony from Tim Baker, Sam Mousa, Michael Munz, Alan Howard and Kevin Hyde:

https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20200727/council-committee-investigating-jea-sale-votes-to-seek-testimony-from-five-key-figures

Also Monday, councilman Rory Diamond tweeted that JEA's former chief information officer admitted to intentionally putting the wrong password on a tablet used by Melissa Dykes, who was chief operating officer at the time. He says this destroyed all documents.

"In my opinion, this is criminal," Diamond tweeted. "Criminal."

[Steve]

Well, here is the first public official alleging "criminal" actions took place at JEA, along with City Council requests for testimony from Tim Baker, Sam Mousa, Michael Munz, Alan Howard and Kevin Hyde:

https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20200727/council-committee-investigating-jea-sale-votes-to-seek-testimony-from-five-key-figures

Also Monday, councilman Rory Diamond tweeted that JEA's former chief information officer admitted to intentionally putting the wrong password on a tablet used by Melissa Dykes, who was chief operating officer at the time. He says this destroyed all documents.

"In my opinion, this is criminal," Diamond tweeted. "Criminal."

Except that the CIO didn't admit he did it on purpose. No idea where he got that statement from.

[jaxlongtimer]

Another JEA domino is about to fall:

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/court-rules-nexteras-bid-for-jea-is-public-record

[jaxlongtimer]

New updates.  Foley and Lardner memos begin to break open the secret dealings of JEA.  Curry's office is implicated as meddling and JEA as trying to hide its bonus plan from the public.  Plenty of juice here for incriminations and follow ups by the Fed's and City Council.  Looking forward to more of the circular firing squad to come!

A month later, after the attempted sale of JEA fell apart, another Foley & Lardner attorney privately speculated to Hyde that Mayor Lenny Curry "had to have known" about the bonuses. That attorney also criticized Sam Mousa and Tim Baker, two Curry confidantes who both landed consulting gigs with NextEra Energy, the parent company of Florida Power and Light that made the highest offer to buy JEA.

In fact, emails obtained by the Florida Times-Union reveal Hyde and his colleagues took steps last August at the behest of JEA executive Herschel Vinyard that would make it harder to trace JEA's work creating the bonus plan. Vinyard has since been fired.

"Herschel suggested that we not have any more emails about the PUPs since it is a potential public record," wrote Hyde in an Aug. 23 email to a colleague. The email was sent hours after Foley & Lardner attorneys informed JEA executives the bonus plan could result in a $5 billion payout.

"We are trying to avoid the word bonus, but the concept is the same," wrote Hyde in a July 3 email.

"They will try and take cover and claim consultants came up with it (bonus plan) but they had to know about the crazy payouts upon sale," he wrote. "While on crazy fees, I hope they subpoena Sam Mousa's arrangement with NextEra...The Tim Baker thing is outrageous. Taken as a whole, the Mayor only cared about getting JEA sold and didn't care that his self-appointed team at JEA and his political consultants were all going to make outlandish sums at the expense of the citizens."

Cook ended the email with the following conclusion: "Completely soiled this opportunity for a long time due to greed and arrogance."

https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/local/2020/08/28/jea-bonus-plan-1-billion-potential/5648061002/

[marcuscnelson]

I'm thinking purely political, but if this blows up hard enough it might be high time for a Dem outsider to run in '23 on a genuine progressive effort to get things right, with an added "I'm not part of the corrupt system that attempted to defraud us all" angle.

[marcuscnelson]

The way I've always seen it, if everyone chooses to abandon government to being a realm of the corrupt, then only the corrupt will ever bother to try. If no one ever believes in better, we'll never get it.

Idealism is good for the soul, Matt. That's why it's in the coffee.

[marcuscnelson]

So stir them together.

[Snaketoz]

There is corruption in both major parties, as we have seen.  My problem is with the "party system" we have.  The parties put up candidates that will look-out for the sponsor's interests, whether qualified or not.  (Much like our current mayor.)  We are currently Republican dominated.  If they are voted out then the Dems will surely take their place.  There is too much money spent on these hacks for qualified, independent, successful people to be willing to enter races.

[marcuscnelson]

I don't disagree. There is an enormous amount of change that should be made at every level of government to diminish the power of the two-party system in America. The challenge, of course, is convincing the system to diminish its own power. A big part of that comes from a lack of civic engagement. Like I said, if everyone abandons government to being the realm of the corrupt, only the corrupt will ever try.

[vicupstate]

I don't disagree. There is an enormous amount of change that should be made at every level of government to diminish the power of the two-party system in America. The challenge, of course, is convincing the system to diminish its own power. A big part of that comes from a lack of civic engagement. Like I said, if everyone abandons government to being the realm of the corrupt, only the corrupt will ever try.

Jacksonville's charter can be amended by petition-driven referendum, something very rare and unique for a city government. No reason that you couldn't mandate non-partisan city elections by that method.   

[jaxlongtimer]

City Council report out today links Curry to JEA sale.  No surprise but good to have it confirmed, especially by his buds on the Council.  Says Curry had been working on the sale since 2017 and engineered Zahn into his position to make it happen.  Main reason it failed is Zahn got greedy with the "incentive" plan he cooked up.  Another Curry scheme with adverse consequences to Jacksonville citizens.  More of the same with his scheming Lot J.  He has zero credibility in my book.  I am still trying to figure out what his appeal was to voters who elected him.

City Council investigative report links Mayor Lenny Curry to failed JEA sale
Christopher Hong
Florida Times-Union

A Jacksonville City Council special committee on Monday published its long-awaited investigative report into the failed 2019 sale of JEA, finding that Mayor Lenny Curry and JEA officials spent years exploring a sale of the city-owned utility with a "purposeful lack of transparency" and CEO Aaron Zahn used "intentional misrepresentations and omissions" to push a sale, which was coupled with Zahn's creation of an "ill-conceived" bonus plan that could have yielded executives millions of dollars.

The report, which is a culmination of a nearly year-long investigation, is the most definitive account linking Curry to the 2019 privatization effort. The report found Curry's administration was involved in exploring a sale as early as 2017 and that Curry "positioned" Zahn at the head of the JEA in 2018 to facilitate a sale, which the report described as a "move that would further burden the opaque sale effort."....

https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/local/2021/01/04/city-council-investigative-report-links-mayor-lenny-curry-failed-jea-sale/4124825001/

[thelakelander]

^Pretty simple. His backers didn't want four more years of Alvin Brown for various reasons. Some good, some bad, some totally selfish and at the expense of the community. He was pushed to carry out a vision from a segment of the local population that goes way back before his arrival in city hall.

[jaxlongtimer]

^Pretty simple. His backers didn't want four more years of Alvin Brown for various reasons. Some good, some bad, some totally selfish and at the expense of the community. He was pushed to carry out a vision from a segment of the local population that goes way back before his arrival in city hall.

Alvin Brown tried to play nice with too many people and ended up not standing for anything concrete for the most part.  People want a leader of action (even if not always good) it seems and Brown didn't measure up well to that standard.  But, be wary of fast talking politicians like Curry.  Sometimes no action is better than the wrong action.

Anna Brosche may or may not have been a great mayor.  But, no way she could have been worse than Curry.  While she ran a poor campaign (lacking in good organization and funding), she also warned us what kind of mayor Curry was behind the scenes and how much worse he would be if he was reelected.  Sadly, her characterizations seem to be pretty close to the mark.  Shame on voters for not paying closer attention or even participating in the election.  Now they will pay.