JEA senior leadership team placed on leave

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Action News Jax has confirmed JEA’s Senior Leadership Team has been placed on leave.

The city-owned utility on Tuesday released this information of how things will look moving forward:

"Effective immediately the following JEA employees are placed on administrative leave.

• Caren Anders, VP/GM Energy Systems

• Deryle Calhoun, VP/GM Water/Wastewater Systems

• Shawn Eads, Chief Information Officer

• Jon Kendrick, VP/Chief Human Resource Officer

• John McCarthy, VP/Chief Supply Chain Officer

• Steve McInall, VP/Chief Energy & Water/Wastewater Planning Officer

• Paul Steinbrecher, VP/Chief Environmental Officer

• Kerri Stewart, VP/Chief Customer Officer

"The following people will now join the Senior Leadership Team as Interim.

• Stephen Datz, Interim Chief Information Officer

• Bruce Dugan, Interim Chief Communication Officer

• Ricky Erixton, Interim General Manager, Electric Systems

• Angie Hiers, Interim Chief Human Resource Officer

• Alan McElroy, Interim Chief Supply Chain Officer

• Hai Vu, Interim General Manager, Water/Wastewater Systems

• Wayne Young, Chief Environmental Officer

"Interim CFO

"During the past six months Joe Orfano has provided strong leadership as JEA’s Interim Chief Financial Officer. He will be redirecting his efforts to leading JEA’s Treasury team. Brian Roche will serve as JEA’s Interim Chief Financial Officer.

“This transition will go into effect on June 22, 2020; until such time Joe Orfano will continue to serve as Interim CFO.”

Interim CEO Paul McElroy stated the following to the leadership team:

“Individually or collectively, real or perceived, you have been complicit or implicitly involved with or simply a direct beneficiary of the ITN or Performance Unit Plan.

"Over the last number of weeks I have reviewed testimony and spoke with many people about the ITN and the Performance Unit Plan, nothing I’ve read or heard clarifies your role, real or perceived, in a positive light.

"I have concluded you as individuals and as a group have lost the confidence of management, employees, City Council, the media and the community.”

Action News Jax has learned that the leave is for 30 days. In that time it will be determined whether they were let go with or without cause. They will be paid in the meantime.

“I concluded that these team members, individually and collectively, have lost the confidence in the management of the utility, the employees, the city council, the media and the community at-large,” JEA interim CEO Paul McElroy said.

If all eight go the full 30 days and then are fired without cause, it could cost ratepayers more than $150-thousand in dead money.

Union representative Valerie Gutierrez said this was necessary to change the culture at JEA.

“It’s something that needed to be done,” Gutierrez said. “I think we need to move JEA forward, and this is the right step to doing it.”

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