JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Despite some questions about why and how a new temporary JEA CEO was selected, the JEA Board of Directors on Tuesday made it official and hired Vickie Cavey as Interim Managing Director and CEO at a salary of over half a million dollars per year.
Her hiring follows troublesome years for the utility, starting with a former CEO, Aaron Zahn, being convicted of fraud and conspiracy and his replacement, Jay Stowe, leaving after News4JAX looked into questionable hiring of top executives who lived out of state.
And Cavey’s tenure isn’t exactly off to a smooth start.
After running JEA for weeks without a contract, Cavey’s new salary — $560,000 annually — is raising eyebrows.
And during the public comment portion of Tuesday’s meeting, concerned union members questioned how Cavey was appointed without any public input.
Stowe resigned in April during a board meeting, and in that same meeting, the board decided that Cavey, who had been working as a board advisor, would serve as the interim CEO. The appointment caught some off guard.
“Not knowing what’s coming, having it all happen, seemingly in the dark, just her showing up ready to accept it and none of us knowing that it was coming beforehand. There’s a lot of we’ll say, PTSD from the last situation coming back,” Jason Baber said.
After the meeting on Tuesday, JEA Board Chair Joseph DiSalvo and Cavey were also asked about a report that said the Jacksonville Office of Inspector General is investigating JEA’s hiring of Cavey amid possible Sunshine Law violations, which requires public disclosure of governmental meetings and records.
Both said they were not aware of an investigation.
News4JAX asked Cavey about her new salary and she answered after first trying to defer to DiSalvo.
“The board chair did say that is the going rate for the position nationwide,” Cavey said.
At the time of his departure, Stowe made over $669,000 a year.
Cavey is no stranger to JEA she had come out of retirement several times after working for the publicly-owned utility for 32 years. And while this is just a temporary job, she did talk about her goals.
“What do I hope to establish? To get JEA’s culture aligned to the municipal utility, to keep our cost in control as much as we can, to make sure that our capital spending and our own spending is within proper limits,” Cavey said.
As for a permanent CEO, that may not happen for some time. A search might not begin until next year.