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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — JEA will soon be looking for a new leader.
At a board meeting Monday, CEO Jay Stowe announced his resignation.
“We felt like this was a good time to make some transition and make some changes,” Stowe said in a sit-down interview with First Coast News.
Stowe said the decision is mutual and JEA wanted to bring in an outside consultant to look at operation costs.
“Nothing derogatory against Jay or whatever, [he] did a great job, but we just have different philosophies,” JEA Board Chairman Joseph DiSalvo, said.
“I think that’s going to be very helpful, to be able to look at the operation and maintenance and the capital spending. And they asked to have a board advisor to work with the board. And they decided that that was the best way to proceed,” Stowe said.
In 2020, Stowe became the leader of the public utility after the failed sale of JEA by former CEO Aaron Zahn. (Former CEO Paul McElroy had filled in as interim CEO between Zahn’s ousting and Stowe taking the position permanently.) In March, Zahn was convicted of conspiracy and fraud in a scheme that shattered trust in JEA.
“I had to spend the first year rebuilding a leadership team. And we built a very strong leadership team. We needed to rebuild trust with the employees, we needed to be rebuild trust with the community. And I think we’ve succeeded at that,” Stowe said.
Monday, the JEA board voted former JEA administrator, Vickie Cavey, as interim CEO.
Cavey will help select the outside consultant to look at JEA’s operations and spending.
Stowe said he’s going to take some time with family before looking at his next opportunity and said spending will be an important task for the next CEO.
JEA pours millions of dollars in funding into the city’s police, fire, and infrastructure projects.
“There’s an awful lot of capital dollars that we need to spend in order to support the growth of Northeast Florida and I imagine that that will be high on their list of things to understand,” Stowe said.
