Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

A.G. GancarskiJune 4, 2018

On Monday, Jacksonville City Council’s Neighborhoods, Community Services, Public Health and Safety committee greenlit the ‘District‘ development plan. That said, the bill did not pass without considerable discussion and consternation among myriad members of the panel before the 5-1 vote The bill (2018-313) could transform the Southbank with its radical redevelopment of 30 acres at the […]

A.G. GancarskiMay 30, 2018

Jacksonville City Councilmen Jim Love and Matt Schellenberg, both second term Republicans, had expressed different visions for the future of Jacksonville’s public utility. Schellenberg’s 2018-242 would encourage the Mayor and the JEA Board to explore a review of a potential sale; Love’s 2018-248 would represent Council opposition to a sale. Both bills will not see the Council floor, after a […]

A.G. GancarskiMay 21, 2018

Jacksonville City Council President Anna Brosche told a Council special committee Thursday that she had yet to get answers to questions to the JEA board regarding the hire of interim CEO Aaron Zahn. The questions included documentation of the selection process, SOP on employee screening, employee screening on Zahn, documentation of meetings between Zahn and board members after […]

A.G. GancarskiMay 17, 2018

The Jacksonville City Council’s special committee on the future of JEA contemplated a light agenda Thursday, a marked contrast to the pitched pyrotechnics of the panel’s bygone conclaves. One highlight: Jacksonville City Council President Anna Brosche addressing the panel, just days after JEA Board member Fred Newbill questioned her motivation in inquiring as to the board’s process in […]

A.G. GancarskiMay 14, 2018

On Monday, the Jacksonville City Council’s Neighborhoods, Community Services, Public Health & Safety committee deferred a bill expressing opposition to selling the local utility, a hot button issue in recent months. 2018-248, a resolution introduced by Councilors Jim Love, Joyce Morgan and Reggie Gaffney, would put the kibosh on moves to potentially sell JEA. This discussion comes at a time […]

A.G. GancarskiMay 10, 2018

Thursday saw Michael Ward of the Jacksonville Civic Council tell the Jacksonville City Council’s Special Committee on JEA how his group’s study should be received. In March, the Civic Council former a committee to ‘assess’ a potential JEA sale. Ward, a co-chair of the Civic Council‘s committee, discussed the influential civic CEO group’s analytic model with […]

A.G. GancarskiMay 2, 2018

JEA CEO Aaron Zahn is settling into his interim role. Florida Politics spoke with Zahn in light of recent criticism of the CEO. Navigating a tricky political climate, a neophyte to the world of municipal utilities (he was on the board weeks before he made the CEO bid), Zahn has faced a unique pressure. We discussed this and […]

A.G. GancarskiApril 26, 2018

With the controversial debate about privatizing Jacksonville’s public utility JEA in the rear view mirror for now after Mayor Lenny Curry said he wouldn’t introduce a privatization proposal, the Jacksonville City Council Special Committee on the Future of JEA Thursday had a different feel. JEA’s interim CEO, Aaron Zahn, addressed the committee for the second straight week. […]

A.G. GancarskiApril 24, 2018

In a memo to JEA employees Monday, interim CEO Aaron Zahn hailed “a new dawn” for the Jacksonville utility. The point of the memo was clear. It framed Zahn, a board member for one month who leveled-up into the CEO chair, as an agent of stability for the utility, which has been rocked for months by […]

A.G. GancarskiApril 21, 2018

On Friday, WJCT broke the news that “Data Targeting, Inc., a Gainesville firm that worked to elect Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry, conducted a focus group study in late February asking participants whether they support selling municipal utility JEA.” The claim was that “a private group of investors” who are “nonpartisan” were paying for the focus group, which saw participants […]

Tag: JEA
Stock image via Adobe.

Despite hiccups, Jacksonville ‘District’ development clears first City Council panel

Jacksonville City Councilors will pull competing JEA privatization resolutions

JEA Board chair rebuffs questions about controversial interim CEO hire

Jacksonville City Council JEA committee talks Aaron Zahn selection, November straw ballot

Jacksonville City Council committee defers JEA ‘no sale’ resolution

‘JEA will look different,’ per Jacksonville Civic Council committee chair

Aaron Zahn sees being JEA CEO as a long-term gig

JEA CEO, COO address Jacksonville City Council, vow to ‘be bold’

‘New dawn for JEA’, asserts Jacksonville utility interim CEO

JEA privatization focus group not funded by Lenny Curry’s political operation