Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry’s deputy chief administrative officer agreed to give a sworn deposition to City Council attorneys investigating JEA’s failed attempt to privatize after she initially refused to testify, according to a letter from city Chief Administrative Officer Brian Hughes.
Stephanie Burch was the city’s lead negotiator in JEA’s effort last year to seek bids to buy the city-owned utility from nine private companies.
Curry and her boss, Hughes, directed Burch to testify.
The Curry administration’s move was in response to a May 6 letter from Council Special Investigatory Committee chair Rory Diamond that compelled Burch to appear before attorneys with the threat of additional action if Curry officials did not respond.
Diamond said May 7 that Burch has not committed to a date and time for her interview with Council attorneys.
Burch declined to be put under oath when first contacted by the committee and the mayor’s office referred the decision to Burch’s private Orlando-based criminal defense attorney, Warren Lindsey.
“The committee believes that she has knowledge relevant to the committee investigation. That committee has been informed, however, that she has declined to be interviewed, absent ‘parameters’ unacceptable to the committee, specifically she requested the interview not be under oath,” Diamond wrote.
The committee said May 5 it would consider issuing a subpoena to Burch if she did not voluntarily appear.
The committee, comprising Diamond and Council members Brenda Priestly Jackson and Randy DeFoor, voted 3-0 to send the letter requesting Burch’s voluntary deposition.
The administration’s deadline to respond was close of business May 7.
Hughes confirmed Burch’s agreement to testify at his directive in a May 6 letter, which also said she is entitled to Garrity Rights, a protection for public employees from being compelled to give self-incriminating testimony during an investigatory interview.
“As your supervisor, and on behalf of Mayor Curry, this correspondence confirms that pursuant to our directive to you to do so, you have agreed to appear for a sworn interview before attorneys of Smith Hulsey & Busey in their capacity as council to the Special Investigative Committee,” Hughes wrote.
An April 17 memo from the city Office of General Counsel outlining the investigative committee’s options for obtaining testimony in its JEA probe confirms Burch’s rights in the deposition.
“A public employee compelled by his/her employer to provide sworn testimony is entitled to Garrity Rights and such testimony may not be used in subsequent criminal proceedings,” the memo states.
Burch is required by the city’s ethics code to comply with federal, state and local investigations as a condition of her employment.
In November, Burch and two other Curry administration officials replaced then-JEA Chief Operations Officer Melissa Dykes, Chief Administrative Officer Herschel Vinyard, Economic Development and Real Estate Director Jordan Pope and board Secretary Camille Lee-Johnson as negotiators in the utility’s bidding process.
The deputy CAO and city negotiators traveled to Atlanta with JEA officials in December to interview and obtain final offers for the utility from high-ranking executives of nine private companies, according to transcripts of the negotiations released by JEA.
The companies included NextEra Energy Inc., which is the parent company of Florida Power & Light Co.; Duke Energy; Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets Inc.; and American Water Works Co. Inc., among others.
The committee identified Burch, along with other administration officials and members of JEA’s staff, as witnesses it wanted to testify under oath about the events that led to JEA’s Invitation to Negotiate process.
The ITN was terminated by JEA’s board after questions about the sale’s purported financial benefit to JEA’s customers and the ethics of the process.