EWU president resigns from JEA board, says leaders ‘reneged’ on letting him attend virtual meetings

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — JEA is looking for a new board member after the resignation of Edward Waters University President Dr. A. Zachary Faison.

Faison resigned in a letter to the JEA board chair dated Nov. 6.

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It comes a week after Faison wrote a letter on Oct. 31 where Faison wrote he was taking a “temporary leave of absence” and intended to return in June 2026.

But it appeared he was having trouble attending meetings. In August, he wrote a letter requesting the necessary “technological infrastructure” to attend meetings virtually. He also mentioned that he was working on a second doctorate from Vanderbilt University.

Action News Jax dug into Faison’s JEA board attendance record since he was appointed by former Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry in 2020.

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According to JEA, out of 48 board meetings, Faison attended 14 in person and another 22 virtually. He was absent for 12 meetings since 2020 and 11 of 25 meetings since he was re-appointed in 2022.

The rest of the board combined missed 16 meetings in person and attended 25 virtually.

Before his resignation, Faison said in his leave of absence letter, “This decision is prompted by the continuing full commitment to my important professional obligations at Edward Waters University combined with an additional major academic pursuit I have recently undertaken that requires my full attention and dedication at this time.”

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Action News Jax’s Tenikka Hughes reached out to Faison, asking him if JEA sent him any correspondence accepting his request to attend meetings virtually:

“No, my August 8th letter was followed up with a phone call between myself and the JEA Board Chair. Pursuant to our phone call in August, it was agreed between Mr. Disalvo and I that I could continue to participate in meetings virtually with some designated scheduled meetings where I would attend in person. I asked for the schedule for meetings where I would be needed to appear in person for the next six months and placed them on my calendar and was proceeding per our agreement.

“Inexplicably, JEA leadership and/or other concerned individuals reneged on that agreement and as of last week demanded that I commit to attending every meeting in person for the next two years. Given my first responsibilities to EWU and other secondary professional obligations I could not make that kind of commitment to volunteer community service and as such I elected to resign.

“I would have served JEA as a volunteer Board member for nearly five years in February--through a global pandemic and in the immediate aftermath of the Zahn saga to rebuild lost trust in JEA from our community. I spent countless days and hours volunteering my time in support of our public utility for the citizens of Jacksonville and would have hoped that would have allowed me the reasonable flexibility to have continued my service via hybrid (online and in-person) engagement.

“Unfortunately, I was unexpectedly denied that opportunity after having first been granted the same nearly three months ago by the Board Chair.”

You can read Faison’s letters to the JEA board and look at the board’s attendance records below:

JEA sent Action News Jax the following statement:

“Appointments to the JEA board are vetted to ensure board members are qualified and that they can provide the significant level of dedication, effort and coordination required to oversee a utility of such complexity and size.”

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