JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – One of the Jacksonville Transportation Authority’s top development officer has been fired, the agency said Friday.
Jerome Keith Brown, who served as JTA’s joint-use development officer, was suspended for five days and put on a 90-day probation for ethical concerns about his conduct, according to the memo sent to him on March 30.
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Brown, the brother of Jacksonville City Councilwoman Katrina Brown, was issued the memo for “unsatisfactory and unprofessional conduct.” It was his third reprimand since he had been hired in 2014.
In the March memo obtained by the News4Jax I-TEAM, Jerome Brown was accused of misleading the city of Jacksonville and his bosses with inaccurate information in order to make a land deal valued at more than $5 million.
Jerome Brown later acknowledged that the information he offered was done to "shift the conversation regarding potential city interest in property owned by JTA and gain approval of the sale of the subject property."
Jerome Brown was terminated for failing to meet the improvement expectations, JTA said in a memo dated June 16.
VIEW: Keith Brown termination memo
He was given the option of resigning from his post that paid more than $100,000, but he refused, the memo said.
Earlier this week, the I-TEAM learned that Katrina Brown’s family received a letter from the city, demanding $210,000 back.
The city said the family’s business violated the terms of a grant deal. As of Friday, it had seven days left to pay or potentially face a lawsuit.
The I-TEAM checked with the city Friday, and the city said it had not heard back from the business about the growing issue, and no payment had been made.
Katrina Brown previously told the I-TEAM that her family is working to resolve the issue.