JACKSONVILLE, Fla — The special investigatory committee created to investigate the failed JEA sale and the waste of taxpayer dollars has turned a critical eye to the City Council itself.
It’s one of the things the four-member committee discussed during their first meeting in council chambers Monday morning, inside City Hall.
Watch Action News Jax Courtney Cole’s full report above. Action News Jax Russell Colburn has more on the investigation. See his video below.
.@ActionNewsJax sources are shedding light on the tense, paranoid culture at #JEA. They say when employees would post their thoughts on social media on topics like a sale, they’d be admonished. If they posted anonymously, leadership would try to figure out who made the posts. https://t.co/pT5Kf9JIFB
— Russell Colburn (@RussellANjax) February 11, 2020
The committee is comprised of Councilman Rory Diamond, Council President Scott Wilson, Councilwoman Brenda Priestly Jackson and Councilwoman Randy DeFoor.
Action News Jax reporter Courtney Cole has covered the controversies surrounding JEA since last year. Monday was the first time she heard the idea of having every City Council member disclose any meetings, conversations or correspondence involving a possible sale.
This idea is to help reassure the public that this process will be honest and transparent.
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“I’m happy to see this is coming about. I think it’s a big relief for the employees of JEA. It’s going to be a big relief for the taxpayers, rate payers of JEA,” said Ronnie Burris, a business manager of Northeast Florida employees Local 360, who believes the investigation spearheaded by the four City Council members is right on time.
“I think this is going to be very, very intense. I think there’s going to be a lot more to it,” Burris told Cole.
The committee has 120 days to get to the bottom of the failed sale that cost taxpayers more than $10 million and led to the firing of JEA’s CEO, Aaron Zahn and CFO, Ryan Wannemacher.
“Our job as a committee, is to make sure that everybody can understand what we’re doing, and the documents are published and that you can follow along at home and know exactly the questions were asking and why,” said Councilman Rory Diamond, chair of the Special Investigatory Committee on JEA.
The committee compiled a list of 84 requests for JEA.
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But they are aware that getting all of the documents they’re requesting won’t necessarily be a quick process.
So they're also planning to interview members of the senior leadership team in the next two weeks.
Committee members say they also want to hear from JEA employees, and are considering creating a whistleblower hotline or forum.
“The employees don’t feel comfortable. I feel that they feel there will be repercussions from somewhere up above, if they do come out,” Burris told Cole.
“The truth is, the people over at JEA — they know what happened. They know what’s going on. And the more of them that will just come forward and tell the truth — so that we can get to the bottom of this the better,” Diamond said.
The committee also talked about getting City Council members to share what they knew about the failed process.
“I’ll disclose all my conversations almost immediately. We’re going to go to review and make them all public. I’ve got nothing to hide this is easy,” Diamond said.
Councilmen Garrett Dennis said he wants to see every council member go under oath to say what role they played.
The city’s lawyers say it’s up to the body to figure out how to do that.
The committee only has until by or before June 1 to complete their investigation.
Another thing they’re working on is talking about how to make changes to the charter so that something like this doesn’t happen again.
Monday’s meeting laid the foundation for weeks and months to come.
This meeting also comes on the heels of a federal investigation and an investigation by the inspector general.
This Special Investigatory Committee on JEA is set to meet again in two weeks.
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