JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A day after the news broke that JEA CEO Jay Stowe is expected to step down from his position leading the city-owned utility — according to multiple sources — Stowe sent a short and cryptic email to the entire staff.
It reads:
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“Morning, Y’all..
Thank you.
Jay”
The email with the subject line “April 12, 2024 Update” was sent just before 7:30 a.m. on Friday and included no other details or indication that confirmed his rumored plans to resign.
JEA is set to hold an emergency board meeting on Monday where more information is expected to come out.
Although nothing is official, Jacksonville City Councilman Rory Diamond all but confirmed Stowe’s departure in a social media post and in an interview with News4JAX.
“Appreciate Jay Stowe’s service to @NewsfromJEA, he settled the waters at a very difficult time. For our new CEO, we need someone who is highly competent, but also understands to their core that JEA must be a positive force for our community,” Diamond wrote. “Likewise, no more key employees living and working out of state. It’s not right.”
Diamond was referencing one of the blemishes on Stowe’s tenue that may have contributed to his impending resignation.
Stowe had been under public pressure recently after News4JAX revealed that some of the people who made important decisions about the operations of JEA, a city-owned utility company, didn’t live in Jacksonville. Laura Dutton, who lives and worked remotely in Tennessee, was released from her position as JEA Chief Strategy Officer shortly after she got a $73,000 raise and reports of her living situation emerged.
Dutton was one of the four people in charge who News4JAX learned didn’t live in Jacksonville, even though the company recently opened a new $100 million corporate headquarters downtown.
There was also public backlash after reports that JEA hosted a $72,000 holiday party with an open bar, catered food and magicians.
Stowe got the job in 2020 following the scandal surrounding the attempted sale of the utility. Last month, former JEA CEO Aaron Zahn was found guilty by a federal jury of attempting to defraud the city-owned utility.
The JEA board meeting will be held at 2 p.m. on Monday at JEA headquarters. (News4JAX plans to stream the meeting live)
The meeting notice and agenda from the JEA are fairly vague. The notice says the board will meet to “discuss and/or take actions regarding personnel matters and other JEA business.”