Jacksonville, Florida: State Attorney Opens Third Investigation of JTA With New Subpoena

State Attorney Melissa Nelson's office has opened an investigation of the Jacksonville Transportation Authority and issued a subpoena for a large set of records on the agency's finances, contracts, audits and executive compensation, the Florida Times-Union reported on Tuesday, Nov. 10. Action News Jax, which obtained the subpoena, reported that it was issued to interim CEO Cleveland Ferguson and that Ferguson has 10 days to collect the documents requested by the State Attorney's Office for the Fourth Judicial Circuit.

"The office has monitored the situation at the Jacksonville Transportation Authority for some time," State Attorney spokesman David Chapman said Nov. 10. "The subpoenas continue our due diligence in the matter." Chapman said the office has an obligation to investigate whether any laws were broken in the Fourth Judicial Circuit. "The existence of another investigation does not relieve this office of its duty to enforce the law within our jurisdiction," he said.

A third investigation of the same crisis

Nelson's office is the third entity looking at the financial crisis at JTA, which forced layoffs and deep cuts in transit service after two years of red-ink spending. The Florida Attorney General's Office of Statewide Prosecution has sent JTA three subpoenas over the past six weeks, and the records Nelson seeks overlap with documents the Attorney General targeted. A City Council Financial Audit and Oversight Select Committee is also examining how JTA's finances fell apart. The council panel is using its oversight powers and is not investigating whether laws were broken.

City Council member Chris Miller, who chairs the select committee, said the committee is a fact-finding panel looking for ways to "find a better way forward" for JTA rather than an investigation of whether criminal laws were broken.

What the Nov. 5 subpoena asks for

The subpoena is dated Nov. 5 and covers nine broad areas. For communications, it requests documents sent about budget shortfalls, vendor selection, ridership statistics, reports by the Office of Inspector General and the City Council Auditor, independent auditor reports, and media responses and public statements on those topics.

For financial condition and accounting, it seeks budgets, general ledger details, cash-flow forecasts, reserve withdrawals and transfers, accounts payable reports, and any records concerning decisions to delay recording liabilities or change the timing of when revenues or expenses were recorded. It also seeks records identifying when shortfalls were communicated to JTA leadership, board members, city officials, auditors or funding agencies.

For procurement and contracting, it seeks records for contracts with Mason Nye Murals, Dream Builders Communications, Team Pegine and the GEMS initiative, Gannett Fleming and TranSystems, wellness services for employees or board members, Jacobs Project Management Company, KL2 Connects LLC and WSP USA. It also seeks information on contracts for the Neighborhood Autonomous Vehicle Innovation program, called NAVI, the Skyway, the Bay Street Innovation Corridor and the Ultimate Urban Circulator, or U2C, program.

For executive compensation and expenditures, it covers what JTA paid former CEO Nat Ford, interim CEO Cleveland Ferguson and other top leaders, and it seeks corporate card statements for travel and lodging and documents showing the justification for travel, training and events, including international travel. Action News Jax reported that the subpoena requests communications between top leadership, including Ford, about bonuses and corporate credit card spending, and communications between Ferguson and JTA leaders about projects such as NAVI.

Ridership, audits and the layoff math

For ridership, the subpoena seeks records for NAVI, the Skyway and buses, including the methods used to track ridership, and any directives or incentives for employees or contractors to ride NAVI to generate or report ridership on the downtown service, which struggled after it launched in late June 2025.

The final areas cover board meetings and internal communications about budgets, procurement, transit performance and the use of reserves, audit warnings and corrective action, all sponsorships and payments to outside organizations including the JAXUSA Partnership, and the financial modeling JTA used to determine service reductions and layoffs to close its budget shortfalls. Action News Jax has reported that the crisis resulted in nearly 200 people being laid off. Neither report said that anyone has been charged in the State Attorney investigation.