JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A former Jacksonville Transportation Authority board member is speaking out 18 months after being removed from the board by Mayor Donna Deegan, saying warnings she raised about the agency’s finances and oversight were ignored.
Megan Hayward was ousted by Deegan in March 2025, after she repeatedly questioned how the agency was spending money.
" I wasn’t taken seriously," Hayward said during an interview with Action News Jax Ben Becker, who first reported Wednesday about widespread layoffs and the fallout.
“Hubris”
Hayward said she was the lone board member to raise concerns about spending, governance, and oversight at JTA, including NAVI, which is part of the agency’s Ultimate Urban Circulator program, also known as U2C. The autonomous vehicle project became a signature initiative of former JTA CEO Nat Ford and cost tens of millions of dollars.
“He was given free rein, and I don’t know why,” Hayward said of Ford, who left for the CEO job with Dallas Area Rapid Transit. “There was a lot of hubris behind this. People knew this wouldn’t work, especially on the executive team,” Hayward said.
“She’s lying”
Now, as JTA deals with major layoffs and the shutdown of both the Skyway and the Navi, Hayward argues responsibility extends beyond agency leadership.
She criticized both Ford and Mayor Deegan, accusing them of allowing the agency’s financial problems spiral out of control.
The comments come after the mayor’s office released a statement Thursday saying JTA’s board “was not previously aware of the dire nature of the agency’s financial situation” and that the mayor’s office became aware of the issues when the board did.
Hayward strongly disputed that claim.
“B.S. I say B.S.,” Hayward said when asked about the statement.
She also believes her removal from the board was tied to her opposition to the U2C project.
“Because she[Deegan] knew I was going to vote off the U2C project, I’m assuming that’s why she kicked me off. She’s lying [in her statement],” Hayward said.
Hayward also blamed members of the City Council and her former colleagues on the JTA board for failing to act on concerns she said were raised long before the agency’s recent financial crisis became public.
Ultimately, she believes there should be a criminal investigation.
“One thousand percent, yes. The state needs to investigate them, the feds need to investigate them, the Department of Transportation should investigate them,” Hayward said. “There are serious questions and issues that I brought up a year and a half ago that have not been answered to this day.”
Mayor’s office statement
“Mayor Deegan appointed Elaine Brown to the JTA Board because of her previous transportation experience and did so when it aligned with the onboarding of several other new board members. False claims from a disgruntled former board member will not change that fact.”
What’s next
Action News Jax reached out to the State Attorney’s Office to ask whether it would consider opening a criminal investigation, and we are waiting to hear back.
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