JEA Board Chair Joe DiSalvo and Vice Chair Rick Morales at a committee meeting on Monday, March 2, 2026. | Mike Mendenhall, Jacksonville Today
Published on March 2, 2026 at 4:55 pm
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The executive committee of the JEA board has rescinded its nomination of Vice Chair Rick Morales III to be the board’s next chair, after his recent call for the CEO of the city-owned utility to resign.
Instead, the committee voted Monday to recommend MG Orender to lead the utility’s board of directors. Board member Arthur Adams Jr. was nominated to be JEA’s next vice chair, but just hours after the vote, his future on the board became uncertain.
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After the committee’s endorsements, Jacksonville City Council President Kevin Carrico told Jacksonville Today he was nominating former Jacksonville Association of Fire Fighters President Randy Wyse to succeed Adams, whose term officially expired Feb. 28.
It was unclear whether Carrico would renominate Adams after the council president found himself as subject of a 4th Circuit State Attorney Office subpoena related to his failed attempt earlier this month to appoint his boss, Boys & Girls Club Boys & Girls Club CEO Paul Martinez, to the spot to repay “a big favor.”
JEA’s board chair roulette
Joe DiSalvo, JEA’s sitting board chair, said Morales’ vote of no confidence in CEO Vickie Cavey made it necessary to take the unprecedented step to reconvene the executive committee and rescind the slate of officers it previously recommended for appointment in January.
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When the full JEA board met Feb. 24, members were critical of Morales taking the unilateral step of asking Cavey privately to resign and for withholding complaints he allegedly fielded from Cavey’s senior leadership team about her leadership style.
“It’s just common sense. We have to relook (at) this. Because why would you want a board chair not supporting a CEO,” DiSalvo told news reporters after the meeting. “It’s not the way it’s supposed to happen. Especially when there’s nothing to show … no evidence.”
Morales asked Cavey to resign shortly before JEA eliminated Chief of Staff Kurt Wilson’s position. This all came to a head when Carrico publicly rebuked Cavey, levying allegations of a toxic corporate culture and racism, while Mayor Donna Deegan appeared alongside the utility CEO at a news conference defending her record.
Morales says he does not regret his actions for what he sees as defending JEA employees.
“Unfortunately, the JEA employees were left in a situation now that if they have an issue with their CEO they have no means of recourse because they know they can’t come to the board. Any complaint mechanism that they have goes through somebody that reports to the CEO,” Morales said.
“I’m not worried about myself, whether I’m the chairman. My concern is the employees of JEA,” he said.
According to a JEA spokesperson, the last time the agency conducted an employee survey assessing morale was October 2024. Last week, the board voted against commissioning an outside review to investigate the allegations.
On Monday, DiSalvo stood by that decision and said all employees — including senior leaders that report to the CEO — should use human resources processes like JEA’s anonymous hotline to report issues.
“If we need any external help, we’ll ask for it at the appropriate time. But simply slinging allegations, they have no merit behind them and then everybody asking for external processes to come look at us. No,” DiSalvo said. “We have our own way of doing business, doing our own investigation internally. And if we need help, then we’ll ask for external help.”
DiSalvo’s term as a board member is set to expire at the end of March. The city’s chief communications officer, Phil Perry, told Jacksonville Today that the mayor intends to nominate him for a second four-year term.
The committee’s decision does not affect Morales’s position as a JEA board member. City Council reappointed him for a second term in March 2024. Despite their disagreement on Cavey’s performance, Orender and JEA board member John Baker both defended Morales’ integrity in business and his board service up to this point.
Baker said he has “incredible respect” for Morales. Baker said Morales — president and CEO of Morales Construction Co. Inc. — “can and should be” JEA chairman at some point, but “now’s not the time.”
The new slate of officers still has to be approved by the full JEA board at its March 31 meeting. Carrico’s nomination of Wyse could influence that decision.
Orender is president of Hampton Golf and has been on the JEA board since June 2024.
Adams is the former senior vice president of sales and marketing at CSX and was appointed in January 2025 to complete the term of Edward Waters University President Zachary Faison
The committee also voted Monday to nominate board member and former Navy SEAL Donald “Worth” McArther as board secretary.
Carrico’s new JEA pick
The council president’s announcement Monday that he’s tapped Wyse to be on JEA’s board ends more than two weeks of uncertainty for the position.
It began when text messages surfaced from Carrico to Adams stating that Carrico would not retain the CSX executive and would appoint Martinez as a favor. After Carrico received pushback from the public, mayor’s office and from others on council, Martinez withdrew his name from consideration.
Wyse is the current executive director of the Jacksonville Police and Fire Fighters Health Insurance Trust, a former union chief and former district chief with the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department.
In a news release announcing the selection, Carrico called Wyse a “proven leader” and an advocate for Jacksonville firefighters and their families for more than a decade.
“Randy has balanced organizational leadership with a commitment to fiscal responsibility, negotiation, and accountability,” Carrico said in the release. “That blend of operational insight and institutional experience is exactly what Jacksonville needs on the JEA Board — to bring stability to our utility, ensure the utmost transparency, fight for lower rates and remain focused on serving the people.”
In the release, Wyse called it “a deep honor” to serve on the JEA board.
“Throughout my 32-year career with the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department and in my union leadership roles, my focus has always been clear: serve the community faithfully, advocate for transparency and accountability, and work collaboratively to solve complex problems,” Wyse said. “If confirmed, I will bring that same ethic to the JEA Board — ensuring that the voices of residents, workers, and ratepayers are heard, respected, and reflected in the decisions that impact our city’s future.”
The JEA board has seven members — four appointed by the council president and three by the mayor. They can serve up to two consecutive four-year terms.
This split has been in place since the council and Duval County voters agreed to change JEA’s charter after the failed attempt to sell the public utility in 2019 and 2020 and resulted in a federal conspiracy conviction for then CEO Aaron Zahn.
