JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — One day after the Jacksonville City Council announced its plans to investigate the unsuccessful sale of JEA, and one week after the State Attorney’s Office decided to hand their investigation over to the federal justice system, Action News Jax caught up with Mayor Lenny Curry to see where he stands with the steps being taken to further examine the process.
Curry told Action News Jax he’s supportive of City Council’s decision.
City Council has the power to order a person to attend court and one of those people could potentially be Curry.
But he says he won't speculate.
Instead, he says we'll just have to see where those questions lead.
“Privatization, from my perspective, is now off the table. I won’t be a part of any revisiting it at all,” Curry said.
He has bigger things to focus on.
“We have so much that I want accomplish in the next over 3 1/2 years. We have neighborhoods and infrastructure, big projects I want to do there. Downtown. I’m back in conversations with the superintendent of our schools, Dr. Greene to see how we can get our schools fixed,” Curry said.
This comes following months of drama surrounding the process behind the potential sale of JEA: including the secretive ITN process and the performance unit plan that could have cost taxpayers hundreds-of-thousands of dollars to pay top employees.
“When they started this process, a number of things would have to be met: protection of taxpayers, protection of employees, a certain minimum dollar threshold just to evaluate it,” Curry said.
The city could have made millions of dollars off the sale.
That left some wondering if Mayor Curry had ulterior motives.
He said no.
“I have never directed anyone to privatize an independent authority.”
And while former CEO Aaron Zahn is out, senior leadership team members still remain.
Now the question is: Will the mayor call for them to get rid of their contracts?
"I don’t direct those board members on what and how to do that’s not how this is set up. I would expect them to do their fiduciary responsibilities and evaluate the situation and take appropriate action,” Curry said.
Two weeks ago, Action News Jax told you the Office of General Counsel was still investigating to determine if cause existed to fire Zahn.
Remember, "with" or "without" cause will affect how much taxpayer severance money he takes home.
On Tuesday, Cole learned details will now be discussed at the scheduled JEA board meeting on Jan. 28.
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