JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Florida Commission on Ethics has dismissed an ethics complaint against former JEA board member and local attorney Alan Howard, regarding his actions during the scuttled JEA sale process.
In April, city of Jacksonville ethics director Carla Miller filed a complaint against Howard with the state ethics commission. According to her complaint, it was filed on behalf of the Jacksonville Ethics Commission.
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In her complaint, Miller explained that Howard sent an email to a lawyer with the Pillsbury law firm in New York, which was advising JEA on a possible sale in the future. In the July 11, 2019, email, Howard writes, “I look forward to working with you.” At a JEA board meeting 12 days later, Howard was among the board members voting to authorize the then-CEO, Aaron Zahn, to engage legal counsel as the utility explored a possible sale.
Records showed that Howard never mentioned his personal interest in the matter and didn’t recuse himself from the vote. He resigned following the July 23 meeting, and his law firm was hired directly by JEA a month later and was paid $75,000 for legal work.
In early May 2021, the state ethics commission assigned the complaint for investigation. Six potential violations of state ethics rules were considered:
- Solicitation or acceptance of gifts (in this case, future employment)
- Misuse of public position
- Conflicting employment or contractual relationship
- Disclosure or use of certain information
- Two separate violations related to voting conflicts
According to the investigative report, the ethics commission’s investigation was initially put on hold, due to the FBI’s ongoing investigation involving JEA. In October, the FBI advised there was no reason to keep the ethics investigation on hold, and it was permitted to continue. The investigation report was completed in November.
Following the completion of the investigation, a lawyer with the Florida Attorney General’s office, acting as an advocate for the ethics commission, reviewed the findings. For each allegation, the advocate recommended that the commission find no probable cause that Howard violated state ethics laws. At a meeting on January 21, the commission agreed with the recommendations.
News4JAX reached out to Howard, who gave the following statement:
“The staff of the Florida Ethics Commission thoroughly investigated the allegations. The Advocate (appointed by the Florida Attorney General and acting as prosecutor) reviewed the legal sufficiency of the complaint and recommended a finding of no probable cause. The Commission voted 9-0 to find no probable cause that I had committed any violations of Florida ethics laws. I believe they reached the correct conclusion.”
The potential sale of the utility was scuttled in December of 2019, shortly after Zahn was fired as CEO. He was ousted after details came to light of a controversial bonus plan, which had the potential to pay out hundreds of millions to utility executives in the event the city sold JEA.
The State Attorney’s Office then began looking into issues connected to the privatization proposal, an investigation that was turned over to the federal government early in 2020. The federal investigation may still be ongoing. A federal grand jury began looking at documents in the spring of 2020, and has called numerous witnesses to testify in the months that followed. One of the more recent witnesses was former JEA executive Melissa Dykes, who testified in September. Such federal investigations generally remain secret until criminal charges are announced, if anyone is charged with a crime.
A city council committee conducted its own investigation, which found the effort to sell the utility “ran afoul through Aaron Zahn’s greed.”