JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan is one step closer to making major changes to the Jacksonville Transportation Authority board.
Deegan’s administration filed legislation to remove one of Deegan’s appointees, Megan Hayward, in the middle of her first term. That will now head to a final vote in the full Jacksonville City Council next week, but not without making waves in committee.
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The change-up comes just after Hayward started asking questions of JTA leadership. While the legislation to place former Neptune Beach Mayor Elaine Brown on the board passed, she was charged by council members to continue Hayward’s trend of asking tough questions.
Action News Jax has covered JTA for more than a year, exposing major concerns with the way the authority is run, including generous executive salaries, extensive, expensive travel, and a bus system that riders say regularly leaves them stranded. That is exactly what council members say they want answers to.
“Frankly,” Councilman Rory Diamond said, “I do think we ought to have tough questions asked. There’s been some really tough reporting from Action News about this board.”
Read: ‘Different standard’: JTA board member questions unlimited spending on execs’ graduate degrees
Those “tough questions” are exactly what current board member Hayward said she was asking when legislation was filed to replace her, saying in a statement in part, “As a member of a state-created board of directors, I believe that every concern and question I raise is a matter of public interest.”
Memo - Ridership Query 2 by ActionNewsJax on Scribd
She attached an internal memo (see above) from JTA CEO Nat Ford, proving she raised concerns about ridership reporting back in September, just a few months before the mayor made the move the replace her.
That timing has raised eyebrows with some council members.
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“I think it smells a little bit bad about how this appointment was done,” Diamond said.
Councilman Chris Miller echoed that concern, saying, “I, quite frankly, think the message we send, not for putting Mayor Brown on the board, but for the first part -- removing the current member -- sends the message we want board members who just keep quiet and go with the flow and rubber stamp what’s put before them.”
Deegan has only ever said the replacement is a way to get Brown back into public service and that she appreciates everything Hayward has done.
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One of those things is raising red flags, something council members hope her replacement will continue to do.
“Independent authority board members,” Councilman Nick Howland said, “it’s incumbent upon them. They’re charged with keeping the independent authorities honest.”
The legislation to remove Hayward will go before council on April 8. If passed, Brown will take her place on the board immediately.
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