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JEA Board Member Resigns Amidst Controversy Over Potential Sale

Bill Bortzfield
/
WJCT News
JEA's Downtown Jacksonville headquarters

JEA board member Andy Allen submitted his resignation last week, JEA announced on Tuesday morning. 

Allen submitted his resignation letter, dated Monday, Dec. 2, to Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry. He cited “increasing demands on my time from family and business responsibilities” as reasons for stepping down.

Allen is the CEO of Corner Lot Development Group.  In the letter, he called JEA’s management and board members “a talented group of individuals that put the needs of ratepayers and taxpayers first.”

Curry appointed Allen in June.  The next month, the board approved exploring privatization of the publicly owned utility.

Since then, JEA’s board and senior management has come under fire for the way the process has been handled.

At a Monday City Council workshop on JEA, utility board chair April Green asked the Council committee to hit “restart” on the last three months of public discourse concerning a possible sale.

Green’s plea comes ahead of City Council’s Tuesday evening meeting. Councilwoman Brenda Priestly Jackson has filed a bill calling on JEA’s board to put a halt to the evaluation of bids and pursuing a sale.

Jackson’s bill requests emergency passage by the Council, which could mean voting on it at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

Bill Bortzfield can be reached at bbortzfield@wjct.org, 904-358-6349 or on Twitter at @BortzInJax.

Bill joined WJCT News in September of 2017 from The Florida Times-Union, where he served in a variety of multimedia journalism positions.