Mayor supports voters deciding JEA board appointments process

JACKSONVILLE, FLA — Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry told Action News Jax Wednesday he supports letting voters decide if there needs to be changes to the JEA board appointment process.

As Action News Jax has been telling you, the entire board has resigned and will be leaving soon amid the turmoil surrounding the utility.

“If the City Council wants to put that to a referendum, I'll sign the bill,” Curry said.

Curry said he has spoken with several people with strong, corporate backgrounds, but wouldn't get into any names. Action News Jax told you about the proposed ordinance Tuesday, which would allow voters to decide on the November ballot if the City Council should appoint three JEA Board members.

If passed, the mayor would choose three others and the seventh and final member- a JEA employee- would be picked by the unions.

As it stands now, the mayor appoints all seven board members and the council confirms them. “This is something that we have to do so we won't be back in this situation again,” City Councilman Garrett Dennis said Tuesday. Tuesday, the Council is expecting to vote on an emergency measure to ask the mayor to give up three of his appointments in the short-term.

Action News Jax has also learned some board members may stay on longer to ensure a smooth transition.

“We're going to make sure we get the right people on the Board,” Curry said. “We're not going to rush this. It's important that we get the right people with the right backgrounds and the right skills as we reset.” Jacksonville City Councilman Rory Diamond is the chair of the council committee investigating the failed attempt to sell JEA.

Part of the committee's charge is to also investigate the controversial Performance Unit Plan, or PUP, that led to the firing of then CEO Aaron Zahn.

In a December hearing, Diamond is frustrated, speaking with then CFO Ryan Wannemacher about the PUP.

“Just so I got this right, you’re the CFO of JEA, we’re at a hearing to talk about this enormously expensive plan and the problem with recapitalization, and your response to me on what the math is, is ‘I haven’t done the math yet?'” Diamond said.

Action News Jax learned the PUP could've cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. “We're looking at equation, you're the CFO of JEA, lawyers for JEA is saying the equation is spitting out too much money, we're having problems, you're making edits to the equation, and you still haven't done the math that this is going to cost us $300 million if we get the sales price right?” Diamond said. “I don't think there's a record of that,” Wannemacher said. As Action News Jax told you last week, a firm hired by JEA told Wannemacher in an August email, ‘The PUP formula is spitting out much larger numbers than we anticipated.’

Right now, JEA remains the focus of investigations by Diamond’s City Council committee, the feds and the inspector general.

Wannemacher was fired without cause in December. Between severance and leave, he’s cost JEA about $200,000.

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