Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

A.G. GancarskiOctober 12, 2015

[UPDATED: In the wake of this memo, The Florida-Times Union reports on Monday night that Lenny Curry has sought resignation letters from every other member of the JEA Board “The mayor felt it necessary to communicate with the five remaining board members given the recent admonishment by the general counsel of the city of Jacksonville and further revelations […]

A.G. GancarskiOctober 15, 2015

A day doesn’t seem to pass lately without JEA, Jacksonville’s public utility monopoly, making the news. This might be ideal, were it not for issues with the board itself. Today’s news item, from Nate Monroe at the Florida Times-Union, involves the resignation of yet another board member, at the request of Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry, […]

A.G. GancarskiOctober 21, 2015

Jacksonville’s first JEA Agreement meeting since the membership of the actual JEA Board was reduced happened on Wednesday morning, after a delay that did not escape the notice of the media on hand to cover the conclave. Among the topics “to be discussed,” according to an agenda with a distinctly non-standard, almost psychedelic font: water […]

A.G. GancarskiOctober 30, 2015

The Friday meeting of the JEA Board meeting started off with “unusual circumstances.” Because of various removals and resignations of board members, there weren’t actual officers. With that in mind, a chair pro tempore had to be elected, and into that void emerged Husein Cumber, one of the few holdovers left on a board that […]

A.G. GancarskiNovember 4, 2015

The JEA Board is taking shape, and Lenny Curry is bringing two big time players to the game. One of them is a longtime Democratic City Councilman. A Tuesday morning email from Director of Appointments and Special Projects Jordan Elsbury signals the administration’s intention to advance Warren Jones and Ed Burr on an expedited emergency cycle […]

A.G. GancarskiNovember 10, 2015

The agenda for Tuesday’s JEA Interlocal Agreement meeting included some tantalizing topics. Joint operating/cost savings opportunities; JEA Board composition; a semantic discussion of “profits”; pension issues; and the contribution formula, which is the crux of the continuing contretemps between the public utility and the city. They didn’t really get there. They did, however, get to […]

A.G. GancarskiNovember 18, 2015

Bill Gulliford celebrated his 72nd birthday by chairing the JEA Agreement meeting, promising, at long last, an extended discussion of the contribution formula, before a vote on it next Tuesday. The proposal specs: a 10-year agreement, starting October 2016; a contribution floor of $114,187,538; a reset of tax millage to achieve the floor; an annual […]

A.G. GancarskiNovember 24, 2015

The JEA Agreement Committee meeting last week brimmed with optimism over getting close to an accord on the contribution proposal. Would Tuesday’s meeting brim with similar good feeling and bonhomie? Not so much. JEA CEO Paul McElroy noted that “given where we are with our governance structure,” it would be necessary to have the board consider […]

A.G. GancarskiDecember 8, 2015

Tuesday’s JEA Agreement meeting, the final one before the Jacksonville public utility’s trip to New York for pivotal meetings with bond-rating agencies, was not expected to have drama. One pragmatic reason for such an expectation: Bond agencies might not look favorably on the kind of morality play theater that has become a staple of JEA […]

A.G. GancarskiDecember 9, 2015

In 2012, Jacksonville General Counsel Cindy Laquidara decided that JEA had the power to raise its employees’ pay. Laquidara was quoted in The Florida Times-Union at the time as saying “the city used to be the employer; the facts changed but the charter language did not.” Fast-forward to 2015. Jacksonville has a new General Counsel, […]