JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville deserves better than this.
That’s what one long-time JEA board member, chair and employee tells Action News Jax about the failed sale process of the public utility.
Right now, JEA is facing a federal investigation, an inspector general probe, and an investigation by the City Council.
Tuesday night, a former leader at JEA tells Action News Jax Courtney Cole what he fears could have happened if the truth wasn’t exposed.
"Had it not been for the press, had it not been for Carla Miller at the Ethics Office, had it not been for the freshman on the City Council…”
Mike Hightower says JEA would have been sold, right out from under our noses.
"If not for those people, do you realize that last month on January 28th, the board would’ve had a decision to say whether or not to except a bid from ‘X ‘—to sell JEA?” Hightower asked.
Hightower served on the JEA board for 16 years, four years as its chairman.
He said he's appalled at the lack of transparency and integrity in the process.
"There were a few people, who, it seems very obvious, had another agenda. From my perspective, I think greed got in the way of common sense,” Hightower said.
The former board chair also worked at JEA for four years.
He says it’s a shame the employees, who do important and dangerous work, now have to have their brand and reputation smeared.
"There are three generations that work there, it’s a family,” Hightower said.
Hightower retired in June 2019.
That’s just one month before the now infamous July 23 JEA board meeting, when they decided to move forward with the secretive sale process and a bonus plan that would have lined the pockets of exclusive employees.
“And just [in] Duval County, there are 51,000 households at poverty or below. Those people would’ve had to pay that price. They would’ve had to do that. And that is wrong on every level,” Hightower said.
Hightower said he's grateful that City Council will take on their own special investigation starting next week.
But he also worries how all of the controversy will affect JEA’s search for a new CEO.
“Who is going to want to come down here and apply for this … when you have a federal investigation? When you have an investigation by the City Council? [When it] is every day in the newspaper? Every day you guys are talking about it?”
But as the story continues to unfold and we learn new details, Hightower said he knows one thing for sure:
“We need to make sure we know how we got here, who got us here, and make sure it never happens again. Because if we don’t learn from the past, we will do the same thing in the future. And Jacksonville never needs to go through this again."