JTA Board Member Calls for Top Leaders to Resign, Says Board Was Kept in the Dark About Financial Crisis

John Hawley

Oct 27, 2026

JTA at a Crossroads: Part 27

A Jacksonville Transportation Authority board member is calling for the agency’s interim CEO and two other senior executives to resign, saying the authority cannot recover from its financial crisis with the same leadership team in place.

Daniel Vallencourt’s October 26 statement targets interim CEO Cleveland Ferguson III, Chief Operating Officer Jeffery H. Smith and Senior Vice President of Public Affairs Jessica Shepler. Vallencourt says executives failed to give the board a complete picture of JTA’s finances as the agency drew down reserves and spending exceeded its budget. He said he was speaking for himself, not the full board.

The demand moves Jacksonville’s transit investigation into a new phase. Former CEO Nat Ford has left for Dallas, but the board member’s criticism now reaches executives still responsible for stabilizing JTA, communicating with the public and managing service reductions. It also raises a question for directors themselves: What information did they receive, and what did they do with it?

Which JTA Executives Does Vallencourt Want to Resign?

Vallencourt called for Ferguson, Smith and Shepler to step down because, in his view, the authority needs a fresh start. Ferguson took over as interim CEO after serving in senior administrative roles under Ford. Smith directs passenger transportation operations, while Shepler oversees public affairs, including communications and government relations.

The statement is one director’s demand, not a board decision. Vallencourt’s allegations about leadership also remain to be tested against JTA’s records and the executives’ explanations. Ford had an opportunity before leaving to provide his side of the story, but waited until the first day at DART in Dallas to do so.

JTA responded that Vallencourt had raised questions being asked by the public, the board and City Council: what happened, why it happened and who was responsible. The authority said Ferguson and Chief Financial Officer Randall Barnes planned to address those questions at Wednesday’s board meeting.

JTA’s Reserves Are at the Center of the Board Member’s Claims

Vallencourt joined the JTA board in February 2026 after an appointment by Gov. Ron DeSantis. At his first meeting, he said, management asked the board to approve an emergency reduction in the operating budget and cited falling sales-tax revenue. He now says directors were not told that JTA had already been drawing from reserves for approximately a year.

According to Vallencourt’s statement, $34.2 million had been withdrawn from reserves by the February meeting. He says the board did not learn about those withdrawals until an August retreat. That allegation deserves a comparison with the financial statements, meeting materials and explanations available to directors during that period.

Drawing on reserves does not, by itself, establish misconduct. The central questions are what the withdrawals were used for, whether they complied with JTA’s policies and what management told the board about their effect on the authority’s financial position. Directors also need to establish whether the information appeared in documents they received, even if executives did not highlight it in presentations. It does appear suspicious though as it's quite close to the budget shortfall announced in August.

Did JTA’s Financial Reports Show the Full Problem?

Vallencourt also challenged the way JTA presented its monthly financial information. He says a “pending” column made the authority’s financial picture appear stronger than it was as the deficit grew. The meaning of that column—and whether it represented anticipated revenue, transactions awaiting processing or another accounting category—is essential to evaluating his claim.

The distinction matters because a financial report can contain accurate individual entries while still leaving board members with an incomplete understanding of risk. Pending amounts, actual cash receipts, reserve balances and projected expenses answer different questions. The board should be able to trace those categories through successive reports and determine when the financial outlook materially changed.

Vallencourt further says JTA spent $181.1 million against a board-approved budget of $148.2 million, a difference of $32.9 million. He has questioned the authority for that spending. Before drawing conclusions from the comparison, the underlying records need to identify the fiscal period, any approved amendments and whether the two figures use the same accounting basis.

The JTA Board Unanimously Chose Ferguson in August

Vallencourt’s call also puts the board’s earlier decision under renewed scrutiny. On August 27, JTA announced that its directors had unanimously selected Ferguson as interim CEO while the agency searched for Ford’s permanent replacement. Board Chair Aundra Wallace emphasized Ferguson’s experience, relationships and ability to provide continuity through an important budget cycle.

Now one of those directors says continuity is part of the problem. The public deserves to understand what information the board had when it made the interim appointment and what directors learned afterward. If the August retreat revealed information that changed Vallencourt’s assessment, the sequence and records behind that change matter.

Ferguson’s prior service also makes him a potentially important witness to the authority’s financial decisions. JTA says he joined the agency in 2015 and served as executive vice president and chief administrative officer before becoming interim CEO. His experience may help explain the transition and the agency’s response, while also making his account relevant to questions about what senior management knew.

Vallencourt Also Accepted Responsibility for Board Oversight

Vallencourt did not direct his criticism solely at executives. News4JAX reported that he acknowledged supporting Ford and said he should have demanded underlying financial documents, including balance sheets and cash-flow statements. The Daily Record reported that Vallencourt accepted some responsibility for insufficient oversight and offered his resignation to the governor who appointed him.

That acknowledgment is significant because the board’s role is to question management and oversee the authority’s finances. If directors received incomplete information, the record should show what they requested and how executives responded. If important information was available but not examined closely enough, that also deserves public attention.

The issue is not resolved by choosing between executive responsibility and board responsibility. Both can matter in the same crisis. Jacksonville needs a timeline that shows which warnings reached management, which reached directors and how each group responded.

How Does This Connect to Nat Ford’s Testimony?

The new statement follows Ford’s first day as CEO of Dallas Area Rapid Transit, where he answered reporters’ questions about the JTA budget crisis. Ford described a combination of economic and operating pressures, while saying arrangements for his Jacksonville testimony remained under discussion. His account and Vallencourt’s allegations should ultimately be compared against the same financial record.

Ford missed the October 23 date specified in the City Council subpoena. The committee rejected a proposal to withdraw that subpoena, and the public is still waiting for an opportunity to hear investigators question him about his time leading JTA. Vallencourt’s claims add specific subjects for that examination: reserve use, financial reporting and the information presented to directors.

The authority’s current leadership can answer questions, too. Ferguson and Barnes do not need to wait for Ford’s appearance to explain the records JTA possesses, identify how its financial reports worked and describe what corrective steps are underway. Their expected presentation at the next board meeting gives directors an immediate opportunity to begin that public review.

What Happens at the Next JTA Board Meeting?

JTA says Ferguson and Barnes plan to address the issues at Wednesday’s board meeting. Their presentation will be an opportunity to explain the reserve withdrawals, the disputed financial-reporting format and the spending figures Vallencourt cited. It will also give other directors a chance to state whether they share his concerns about the management team.

The public should watch for documents and explanations that can be followed from one budget period to the next. A useful account would distinguish projected shortfalls from actual results, identify the purpose and timing of reserve withdrawals, and show what information was supplied to directors. It should also make clear which questions remain under review.

JTA employees and riders are already living with the consequences of the crisis. The authority announced the elimination of 44 administrative positions and up to 150 operations positions, along with reduced bus frequencies and suspensions of the Skyway and NAVI services. The leadership debate now needs to produce more than competing assessments of confidence: it needs to establish the financial facts and who was responsible for acting on them. We are grateful that Vallencourt made his position clear to the public ahead of the meeting.

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