Jacksonville City Council President Kevin Carrico taking the oath of office in June 2025. | City of Jacksonville
Published on February 26, 2026 at 4:45 pm
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Jacksonville City Council President Kevin Carrico is facing a call to temporarily step down from council leadership after the State Attorney’s Office subpoena surfaced looking into his texts and emails linked to a JEA board appointment.
In a letter Thursday, council member Jimmy Peluso urged Carrico to pause his council presidency until the State Attorney’s Office “has removed any possibility of wrongdoing.”
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Earlier this month, Carrico sent a text message to Arthur Adams, a JEA board member and retired CSX executive, saying Carrico was not going to renominate Adams to the board. Instead, Carrico planned to nominate his boss, Boys & Girls Club CEO Paul Martinez, to the spot to repay “a big favor.”
Peluso, a Democrat, said in his letter it’s not up to him to speculate if the text messages were linked to recent JEA leadership controversies. A JEA board member recently asked the CEO of the city-owned utility, Vickey Cavey, to resign due to an alleged toxic workplace culture and the dismissal of a senior staff member.
Peluso says Carrico, a Republican, should step aside to maintain the public’s trust in city leadership and city process.
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“I think there’s a lot of smoke. I think there’s a lot of misunderstanding about what’s happening,” Peluso told Jacksonville Today. “I didn’t want it to be partisan, political or harmful to him. But I also want to make sure that we show the public that we’re willing to recognize when there’s a breach of trust, and we’re trying to make a good faith effort, so the public sees that we’re taking action when we need to.”
Asked about Peluso’s letter Thursday, Carrico initially declined to comment. He later sent a text message to Jacksonville Today attacking Peluso’s record.
“This is nothing more than political theater from the biggest Drama Queen on the City Council,” Carrico wrote. “My office is fully complying with the State Attorney’s request and will continue to do so. While Mr. Peluso chases relevance, he has established himself as the least effective member of this Council and has neglected his district for most of his term.”
In an interview Thursday, Peluso said he has “a level of trust” in Carrico that “he can do the right thing.” He also expressed faith in Republican council Vice President Nick Howland to step in and lead the city’s 19 local lawmakers.
“I am not asking you to leave council, and I am not asking you to step down permanently; nor is this meant to be political, partisan, or harmful to you,” Peluso wrote in his letter. “This is intended to increase public trust in the institution of City Council and to ensure we hold each other accountable. I urge you to consider this request and do what is in the best interest for Jacksonville.”
During an event at the Jacksonville Port Authority on Thursday, Jacksonville Today asked Howland about Carrio’s subpoena and Peluso’s request for the council president to temporarily resign. He said his focus is on core city services.
“My focus is on making the local government work more efficiently and effectively for the people,” he said. “I’m ensuring that we have safer streets and neighborhoods, that we have infrastructure investment all across our city, and that core central services are working as efficiently as they can for the electorate — the whole time doing it in a fiscally responsible way with transparency and accountability.”
This is not the first time Pelsuo and Carrico have had a public disagreement. Early in Carrico’s one-year presidency, he removed Peluso from his only committee assignment after the Democrat boycotted a meeting over what he saw as a break with council leadership norms.
Peluso says his letter was not related to his tumultuous relationship with Carrioco, but the correspondence did reference “a number of incidents that have led to controversy” over the last eight months.
Carrico’s JEA subpoena
The subpoena signed by Stephen Siegal, executive director of the State Attorney’s Office for the 4th Judicial Circuit of Florida, gives a March 10 deadline to produce electronic, social media, written and audio-visual communications from Carrico related to JEA.
Specifically, the subpoena asked for records from Jan. 1 through Feb. 24, 2026, between Carrico and several key people in JEA leadership and affected by the board appointment.
Jacksonville Today obtained the subpoena through a public records request to the city. On Thursday, the State Attorney’s Office would not confirm or deny that it’s investigating Carrico’s communications, according to Communications Director David Chapman.
The subpoena was first reported by Jacksonville Today news partner News4Jax.
The state attorney’s probe into Carrico’s texts is the latest in a trio of inquiries at Jacksonville City Hall. In September, the State Attorney’s Office declined to investigate whether text messages by three council members, including Carrico, violated Florida’s Sunshine Law.
Local prosecutors also decided there was no criminal wrongdoing in a gun log kept at City Hall.
Council member Rory Diamond referenced the gun log when he took to the social media platform X on Thursday to respond to the idea of Carrico stepping aside.
“Just as soon as the mayor steps down as the Attorney General investigates her illegal gun registry,” Diamond wrote.
Jacksonville Today reporter Will Brown contributed to this report.
