JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Former JEA Chief of Staff Kurt Wilson testified under oath before the JEA Special Investigatory Committee on Monday and shared his side of the story concerning JEA CEO Vickie Cavey’s leadership and the elimination of his position.
Wilson claimed employees are working in a culture of fear and detailed his own experiences working under Cavey.
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“The minute I’d try to speak up, she would slap the table down in front of me and say, ‘no,” said Wilson.
Wilson claimed he’s heard from dozens of JEA employees who have had issues with Cavey and fear for their jobs if they were to come forward.
He even claimed one had to seek counseling due to the work culture.
Wilson said his relationship with Cavey soured near the end of 2025 and had planned to leave on his own, but colleagues begged him to stay.
“They came to me with tears in their eyes, going, you can’t leave, you’re the buffer,” said Wilson.
Wilson claimed Cavey asked him to stay after hearing from JEA Board member Rick Morales, and he agreed to remain at the utility.
Wilson said during the month of January of this year, he experienced no issues with Cavey, but things went south again after he got a call from Morales, who told him he’d heard from employees who raised concerns about Cavey’s leadership.
Ahead of the following JEA board meeting in February, Wilson claimed he went to Board Chair Joe DiSalvo and warned him about the workplace culture concerns that were likely to be raised at the meeting.
The next day, Wilson said he was informed his position at JEA had been eliminated.
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“The next morning at 8 o’clock, Vickie walks by my office, gives me this look of eat you know what and die,” said Wilson. ”She goes right into Diane’s office, and I’m like, okay, well, I knew this was gonna happen.”
Wilson also pushed back on assertions that his personal relationship with Cavey deteriorated as a result of his role in negotiating a lobbying contract between the utility and Ballard Partners, which employs former Mayor Lenny Curry.
“There has been this slander against me out of this company, that my attorney had to write a letter to them to say, hey put y’all on notice what’s coming back to me and what you’re saying is defamation. That I’m a criminal, that I had broke the law, that I’m part of a conspiracy to sell the utility, are you kidding me? That I’m somehow tied up with a lobby group,” said Wilson. “All of this, things to confuse the fact that there is an issue with the leadership of JEA.”
Action News Jax reported on Friday about the communications between Wilson and Cavey as the procurement process was underway.
Wilson claimed that after he apologized to Cavey for approving a one-year $450,000 contract with the firm, Cavey sent an additional text.
“She replied back immediately in all caps, ‘YOU do not have to apologize! We’re good!’. That didn’t make it in the story on Friday, and I don’t know whose fault that was, but I’m here to tell you this contract was not the beginning and end for us in January that year,” said Wilson.
Wilson did claim Cavey took great issue with the former mayor working for the firm and asked that the firm’s services not be utilized, despite JEA continuing to pay Ballard.
The lobbying contract was not renewed for a second year and expired in January.
We reached out to JEA for a response to the claims made by Wilson following the end of the committee meeting and are waiting to hear back.
During a February board meeting, Cavey previously addressed the allegations against her, calling them unsubstantiated.
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