Former JEA Chief of Staff says employees fear CEO, as Jacksonville City Council probes utility

Politics continue to swirl around power and water in Jacksonville, with the future of the city’s utility hanging in the balance.

The drama continues between the Jacksonville City Council and JEA, with a former executive in the company giving his version of events revolving around his dismissal earlier this year, saying they point to larger issues with the leadership.

Kurtis Wilson is an ally of former Mayor Lenny Curry whose position was eliminated last month amid a conflict with CEO Vickie Cavey about, among other things, his decision to hire Ballard Partners for the utility’s federal lobbying. Now, Wilson is addressing the Special Investigative Committee’s ongoing probe.

Wilson said Cavey was first brought in as a “trusted advisor” of the board before becoming interim and then permanent CEO, with an eye toward reducing costs.

He said she “didn’t recognize the utility” she had left years ago, and didn’t know how to talk to people, making people “nervous to approach her” when she had a “certain face” on. And she engaged in a “witch hunt” that is still ongoing.

“Everybody was scared of their job,” Wilson said. “Everybody out here’s running scared.”

Many disgruntled employees are making six-figures and enjoy pensions, Wilson added, and they worry they couldn’t get a similarly lucrative position as their job with the public power and water company.

Wilson voiced his concerns about her comportment to her in July 2025. She then turned her “vitriol” on Wilson during the second half of the year, particularly after Wilson reached out to Ballard principal Jordan Elsbury, who was Curry’s former Chief of Staff.

By December, Wilson outlined his exit strategy to Cavey, saying they couldn’t work together. He said he would go to Tallahassee and lobby during the Legislative Session, then go on vacation until June 8, so he could have five years in the role.

JEA Board member Rick Morales questioned Wilson about Cavey’s leadership in December. From there, Morales talked to other people who all believe there are “issues with Vickey’s leadership.” After word got out that Wilson was leaving, an estimated 20 employees emotionally lobbied him not to leave, as he was the “buffer” between her moods and their tenuous positions.

Wilson was dismissed soon thereafter, and was told he would be offered a settlement.

A press conference followed where Cavey appeared with Mayor Donna Deegan, who alleged a “vile smear campaign” against Cavey motivated by a scheme to sell the utility.

Wilson said it was part of a larger narrative of defamation.

“That I’m a criminal, that I have broke the law, I’m part of a conspiracy to sell the utility, are you kidding me? That I’m somehow tied up with a lobby group, all these things to confuse the fact that there is an issue with the leadership of JEA,” he said.

Wilson then said that he was blasted for reaching out to Elsbury to discuss the issue of uncollected capacity fees.

Wilson also said Ballard prevailed in a competitive bid process against Southern Group and Continental, but despite that and the meetings being routine, Cavey balked at sharing utility business with Curry, whom she and Deegan regard as a “political opponent.” Cavey allegedly complained on multiple occasions that Deegan kept saying she was unhappy with contracting with Ballard.

Ahead of Wilson’s remarks, JEA Board member John Baker spoke to “respectfully implore” the JEA Special Investigative Committee not to run its own survey “based on calls from disgruntled employees,” which would “split this city right down the middle.” JEA announced last week it was running its own employee satisfaction survey and an internal legal probe into “recent allegations regarding workplace culture” that include racism and toxicity.

Committee member Rory Diamond noted that while he respected Baker, the JEA Board Chair did not allow for City Council Liaison Ron Salem to be heard at a board meeting last month about Cavey’s future, and that the City Council is committed to its own survey.

For his part, Wilson believes the Committee survey is essential as the utility can’t be trusted to conduct one that keeps respondents confidential, given company email addresses are tied to responses.