JEA Board to Consider Mass Layoffs/Privitization

[marcuscnelson]

So, big question with this report.

Is this bad enough for Curry that someone (or a group of someones) could seriously put recall on the table? Do his actions fit any of these:

malfeasance, misfeasance, neglect of duty, drunkenness, incompetence, permanent inability to perform official duties, and conviction of a felony involving moral turpitude.

[thelakelander]

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.

Well Curry is a leader of action. His administration set DT Jax back 20 years just from being bullheaded and stubborn.

Brown could have certainly done more during his term. With that said, did the Southbank Riverwalk reconstruction, Cowford Chophouse, 220 Riverside finally kicking off Brooklyn's redevelopment and what appeared to be the revamp of the Jax Landing, all happen under his administration? Every time I'm in my office looking at the hole that is the Landing site, I think back and wonder what would that site look like today if we had just stayed the course in 2014.

[marcuscnelson]

While it'd be nice to see a recall position for incompetence as a result of disastrous downtown decision-making, I really do wonder if this JEA report is bad enough to motivate a recall effort. I've seen a handful of people say that maybe he should resign, and while that's far from representative of the numbers needed for such an effort to be successful, I don't think it's unreasonable to say that if it's bad enough that a lot of people feel resignation is called for, a recall attempt might be called for as well.

[Steve]

While it'd be nice to see a recall position for incompetence as a result of disastrous downtown decision-making, I really do wonder if this JEA report is bad enough to motivate a recall effort. I've seen a handful of people say that maybe he should resign, and while that's far from representative of the numbers needed for such an effort to be successful, I don't think it's unreasonable to say that if it's bad enough that a lot of people feel resignation is called for, a recall attempt might be called for as well.

I don't seem him resigning from the council report (regardless of how accurate it is, and I believe it's probably very accurate).

The Feds investigation on the other hand.

[Ken_FSU]

Curry needs to step down.

He's become an embarrassment to the city, and I sure get the impression his own mental health has taken a nosedive as well.

This month has seen him shout down City Council on Twitter, bow out of a Christmas Tree lighting, physically threaten a citizen and a City Council member, expose an alleged affair on Twitter, and now get implicated in one of the largest scandals in city history with the failed JEA sale.

Only going to get worse when the Feds conclude their investigation.

Call it a day.

Get off social media, take care of yourself mentally, and figure out what's next for you and your family.

It's what's best for all parties involved.

[Papa33]

Nate Monroe suggested (or explicitly stated) in a recent column that Curry has checked out of being mayor and running the day to day of the city.  For people in the know, how true is that?  Also, I looked at the city ordinance.  If the mayor is unable or unwilling to serve, then city council president becomes mayor.

[jaxlongtimer]

Curry needs to step down.

He's become an embarrassment to the city, and I sure get the impression his own mental health has taken a nosedive as well.

This month has seen him shout down City Council on Twitter, bow out of a Christmas Tree lighting, physically threaten a citizen and a City Council member, expose an alleged affair on Twitter, and now get implicated in one of the largest scandals in city history with the failed JEA sale.

Only going to get worse when the Feds conclude their investigation.

Call it a day.

Get off social media, take care of yourself mentally, and figure out what's next for you and your family.

It's what's best for all parties involved.

To add, I am seeing Twitter exchanges indicating that maybe Curry likes his drinks very much (I know I saw him one time at a bar with his wife at about 9:30 at night.  Not that it means anything but...).  I wonder if he has issues outside of the office that may be (further) impairing his governing abilities.  Monroe has also called him out for being an absent mayor (where is Waldo?) and Dennis alleges he has "interests" in Clay County  .  I don't know, but that's a pile of rumors going around.

As noted, based on his known (and maybe unknown) behavior, it could be time for him to step out of the job and get control of his personal life.

[fieldafm]

Nate Monroe suggested (or explicitly stated) in a recent column that Curry has checked out of being mayor and running the day to day of the city.  For people in the know, how true is that? 

That is not a recent trend.

[vicupstate]

I assume the city council President would assume the Mayor's office if Curry vacated for any reason. If so, Curry is not going to step aside and let a Democrat become Mayor. I assume Hazouri's term is nearly up though??

[BridgeTroll]

^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.

Run a poor campaign and this is what you get... ask Hillary...

[marcuscnelson]

I think when it comes to Brosche, there's a lot to be said for the fact that her campaign didn't really start in earnest until January or so, and most people had totally checked out once the midterms were over the previous November. I'm also still mind-blown that the Democrats apparently couldn't find anyone in a city of a million people to challenge this guy.

From a purely partisan standpoint, I don't think it's unreasonable to think that if literally any Democrat at all had made it onto the ballot and informed people of that, it could have at least kept Curry below 50% and forced a runoff between him and Brosche, giving her more time to make a better case against him. Better organization two and a half years ago with the right candidate could have even led to a win, especially if they had been running during Gillum's campaign and taken advantage of that effort in Duval.

[Charles Hunter]

I assume the city council President would assume the Mayor's office if Curry vacated for any reason. If so, Curry is not going to step aside and let a Democrat become Mayor. I assume Hazouri's term is nearly up though??

Hazouri's term as Council President ends June 30.  If standard practice follows, the current Council Vice President, Sam Newby, will become Prez on July 1.

[Tacachale]

Nate Monroe suggested (or explicitly stated) in a recent column that Curry has checked out of being mayor and running the day to day of the city.  For people in the know, how true is that? 

That is not a recent trend.

^This.

[Tacachale]

The rules for recalling the Mayor of Jacksonville:

https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/rules-for-recalling-the-mayor-of-jacksonville/

[jaxlongtimer]

Links to updated and expanded Times Union coverage of the City Council's JEA report and new Nate Monroe column on same subject:

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

https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/columns/nate-monroe/2021/01/04/city-council-report-says-greed-bad-faith-marred-jea-sale-effort/4123321001/

Monroe column excerpts:

COMMENTARY | A nearly yearlong investigation by lawyers representing a special Jacksonville City Council investigative committee found that almost every step taken by Mayor Lenny Curry's administration and former city utility executives to privatize JEA — dating as far back as 2017 — was tinged with bad-faith, greed, secrecy or, at the least, an appearance of impropriety, according to the committee's 132-page final report released Monday.

On the contentious question of how involved the mayor was throughout the sale effort — something Curry has repeatedly denied — City Council attorneys flatly concluded he became involved as early as 2017, and that he and his administration took steps to conceal that fact from the public.

"Knowing that public sentiment disfavored transferring JEA to private ownership, the city's effort to market JEA was conducted with a purposeful lack of transparency," the report said....

...The City Council attorneys also found evidence of coordination between Curry's "affiliates," like his political consultant, and energy giant NextEra, a bidder to purchase JEA. The lawyers also wrote that behind closed doors city officials had decided on a negotiation strategy that benefitted the company.

The report, authored by attorneys with Jacksonville law firm Smith Hulsey & Busey, made no definitive conclusions about whether anyone involved at the city or JEA broke laws, but the lawyers wrote that JEA executives made "material" and "intentional" omissions and misleading statements to the board of directors — terms that, in legal settings, are sometimes elements of civil and criminal fraud cases...

... The committee report concluded there was "evidence of coordination among affiliates of the Curry administration" and NextEra, one of the bidders vying to purchase JEA, though it stopped short of characterizing that evidence as definitive proof of an attempt to rig the process in the company's favor.

Most of that evidence centered around the relationships between consultants Tim Baker and Sam Mousa with Curry and NextEra, a nexus the Times-Union has reported in the past.

• The report says city negotiators who interacted with the bidders opted for an accelerated timeframe on the competitive solicitation process that they were advised would force out other bidders.

The negotiators also relied too heavily on the offering price while failing to adequately incorporate other factors — like the fact that NextEra's bid "assume(d) up to an immediate 50% workforce reduction" in JEA electric employees — when ranking the bids.

They refused to disclose the amount of the purchase price in the highest bid — which came from NextEra, at roughly $11 billion — to the rest of the potential buyers, which had the effect of "decreased competitiveness of the ITN to the detriment of JEA and the city, but to the benefit of NextEra."...