Former Mayor Of Neptune Beach in JTA Controversy
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA — The Jacksonville Transportation Authority is under a state criminal investigation as it tries to close a budget hole of about $39 million, and Mayor Donna Deegan has been subpoenaed over the March 2025 meeting in which she replaced board member Megan Hayward with former Neptune Beach mayor Elaine Brown.
The Florida Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution subpoenaed JTA in late September. Investigators are seeking records from roughly October 1, 2023, through October 21, 2025, including vendor contracts, ridership reports, the agency’s tuition-reimbursement policy, and a wellness program that included massage services. The request also covers communications involving former chief executive Nathaniel “Nat” Ford, his spouse, and the owner of an organizational-development firm, plus communications between interim chief executive Cleveland Ferguson and his executive assistant about scholarships and tuition.
A separate criminal subpoena to Deegan seeks handwritten notes, emails, text messages, and any recordings from March 1 through March 10, 2025. That window includes a March 3 meeting between the mayor and Hayward. Deegan has said she will comply and that the notes will be made public.
Hayward, appointed by Deegan in October 2023, served until March 2025. She has said she was the only board member pressing the agency on spending, oversight, and ridership figures that she said did not match what JTA reported to the federal government. She has also criticized the Neighborhood Autonomous Vehicle Innovation program, part of the Ultimate Urban Circulator, a signature Ford project she says ran more than $20 million over an original projection of about $250 million.
Hayward says she told Deegan face to face that if the problems were not dealt with, the situation would become the mayor’s version of the old JEA scandal, and that she was removed because she was prepared to vote against the autonomous-vehicle project. She has called for a criminal investigation into the agency’s use of federal funds.
Deegan disputes that account. On September 22 she said her notes from the meeting showed nothing that indicated the organization was “going off a cliff.” Her office has said the board was not previously aware of how severe the finances were, and that the administration learned of the crisis when the board did. On the appointment, the mayor’s office said Brown was chosen for her transportation background and that the change lined up with other new members joining the board. It has called Hayward’s claims false and those of a disgruntled former member.
The City Council held Brown’s nomination while Hayward’s concerns were reviewed, then confirmed Brown unanimously. Council approved the appointment on April 8, 2025, on a 19-0 consent vote. Brown, a former Neptune Beach mayor and former Jacksonville City Council president, had chaired the council’s transportation committee, served as the council’s liaison to JTA, and represented the beach cities on the North Florida Transportation Planning Organization. She is now the board’s treasurer. Deegan said the goal was to match board experience to city priorities and to bring new members, including two appointed by the governor, up to speed together.
JTA is a regional authority. The governor appoints four board members and the mayor three. Its employees are state employees, and the Jacksonville City Council reviews and approves the operating budget. Deegan’s office has said finger-pointing that ignores that structure does not get to the facts, and that the administration wants answers and less disruption for riders.
The shortfall has already hit service. JTA has moved to cut on the order of 150 to 200 jobs, reduce bus routes, and suspend the Skyway and the NAVI service, with the autonomous-vehicle program set to halt temporarily on January 1. Ford announced in July that he was leaving after more than a decade and was hired to lead Dallas Area Rapid Transit. He has remained on the payroll, at a base salary of about $400,000 a year, on an on-call basis through a final day in late October, even as rank-and-file layoffs moved forward. Ferguson is interim chief executive. JTA has said it will cooperate with the subpoena and remains committed to transparency.
No charges have been announced. The attorney general’s office has not publicly described the scope of any findings.