WEDNESDAY July 24, 2019
Public legal notices begin on page 3
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JEA will look at ways Daily Record to privatize utility JACKSONVILLE
The longtime architect and civic leader known as “Mr. Downtown” dies at the age of 74.
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The public utility’s board voted Tuesday to allow its CEO to study an IPO or become customerowned or privately held.
JACKSONVILLE
BY KAREN BRUNE MATHIS EDITOR
tual rate. n Fund and provide the city and the Duval County Public Schools with 100% renewable energy by 2030. n Fund and provide 40 million gallons daily of alternative water capacity for Northeast Florida by 2035. n Guarantee protection of certain employee retirement benefits. n Maintain employee compensation and benefits for three years. n Make retention payments to all full-time employees at 100% of their current base compensation. n Lease a new headquarters and retain employees in Downtown Jacksonville. As part of scenario 3, JEA board members also approved the introduction of legislation to council
Jacksonville architect and business leader John “Jack” Diamond died July 14 after a long battle with dementia. Diamond, 74, was born in 1945 in Columbus, Ohio, and moved to Ja c k s o n ville in 1970. He joined KBJ Archit e c t s , where he began his Diamond career and years of leadership and civic involvement. “We were such close friends. I truly loved him,” said Jim Citrano, a veteran real estate executive and former chair of the Jacksonville Port Authority. Citrano said Diamond was accomplished. “At his 60th birthday party, I think everyone in the community who had anything to do with anything was there. He was the most popular man in town,” Citrano said Monday. Citrano said he prefers to recall earlier days before dementia affected Diamond’s personality and temperament. “He was hard-working, selfless, successful and generous to a fault,” Citrano said. “That personality was larger than life and that’s how I chose to remember him.”
SEE JEA, PAGE 2
SEE DIAMOND, PAGE 2
BY MIKE MENDENHALL STAFF WRITER
Diamond remembered as selfless, generous
The JEA board voted Tuesday to research a path to privatize the public energy and water utility. Resolution 2019-07 gives CEO Aaron Zahn the authority to explore methods of privatizing JEA, including becoming a privately held or investor-owned company; evaluating an initial public offering making JEA a publicly traded company; or converting into a customer-owned utility. The board’s action at JEA’s Downtown headquarters caps a two-month strategic planning process staff said was meant to find solutions to shrinking energy sales and declining revenue due to increases in energy efficiency and falling costs of home generation of renewable energy. The first scenario detailed in May would have put in place a 52% electric rate increase, a 15% rise in water rates and a reduction in JEA’s city contribution from a projected $118 million in fiscal year 2020 to nothing by 2023. Scenario 2, or a “traditional utility response,” would have cut 574 jobs at JEA and raised electric rates 26% by 2030. Zahn and his staff convinced JEA’s board that Scenario 3, a pathway to privatization, is the most attainable way to avoid laying off employees and increasing rates for its customers because of shrinking sales. The vote also retains a $72.2 million deal between JEA and Ryan Companies US Inc. to build
JACKSONVILLE
NEW JEA HQ ADVANCES
The JEA board voted to proceed with a $72.2 million deal between JEA and Ryan Companies US Inc. to build the utility a new high-rise headquarters Downtown.
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a high-rise headquarters Downtown for the city-owned utility. City Council approved the potential sale of the 1.52-acre property for $2.6 million to Ryan Companies on June 25, the same day JEA’s board voted to enter into a lease for the headquarters with Ryan. Until Tuesday, the building development was uncertain. Both contracts held exits clauses for the city and utility should JEA decide to abandon plans for the project. Zahn said researching the options for privatization will take six to nine months. Should the board decide to sell JEA assets in a sale or competitive solicitation, it would require additional board action, approval by council and a voter referendum. JEA Board Chair April Green ended the meeting by stressing
the action was not the final step in privatizing the utility. “I want to make sure that it is understood that we did not vote today to sell JEA. I think it’s important we say that,” Green said. “Specifically what we did today is we gave leadership direction to purse an unconstrained, nontraditional response to make JEA better for the employees and the community as a whole,” she said. A move to privatize would have to achieve these goals, according to Zahn and outlined in the resolution passed Tuesday. It would need to: n Provide the city $3 billion as a supplement to future JEA annual contributions. n Give $400 million to customers as a rebate. n Guarantee a 3-year contrac-
GCA to lay off workers at airport GCA Production Services Inc. and its parent company ABM filed a notice with the state that it expects to lay off at least 50 workers providing service to Hertz at Jacksonville International Airport. However, the company is hoping the employees will be placed in other jobs at ABM or with the new contractor at the airport. Jorge Rivera, human resources manager for GCA, said some workers may be offered jobs at Managed Labor Solutions, which will take over the Hertz contract Sept. 8. “All of the employees are going to be offered an opportunity for work,” he said.
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