Mark it down! The Caddo Commission will play Santa Claus to one lucky job applicant four days before Christmas!

To the chagrin of several commissioners, a good part of Sat. Dec. 21 will be spent by the commission interviewing to select the commission’s next clerk. This position becomes open on Jan. 1 of next year.

A total of 32 applicants sent in their resumes. Of these 16 were deemed qualified by the commission’s human relations and legal staff members.

The interviews commence at 8:30 a.m. in the commission chambers at government plaza. Each interview is limited to 20 minutes.

The following will be interviewed in the order listed:

Carla Buntyn

Drucilla Carter

Rachel Mullen

Michael Bell

Cynthia Robertson

Chelsey Prewitt

Ralpheal Johnson

Arielle Clark

Jeff Everson

Gabrielle Davis

Alexis Godette

Andrew Randall

Arianna Smith

Logan Davis

Richard Anderson

Danielle Farr Ewing

After all the interviews the commission will vote on each candidate. The first candidate to get a majority vote will be the next commission clerk.

The meeting is open to the public.

Interestingly enough, a last minute effort to expand the credentials for the clerk’s position failed. A special meeting was called for Mon. Dec 16 with 2 agenda items.

The first was to add additional funding for NGOs—non governmental entities. NGO funding almost always is a big bone of contention between the party lines on the Commission.

The other agenda items was to re-open applications for 24 hours for the clerk of commission position. The proposed resolution was to amend the qualifications to allow for non college graduates. The issue of a college degree had been debated initially when the qualifications were established. This issue was subsequently discussed ad nauseam at the last commission meeting.

Many commissioners were opposed to re-visiting this issue. Rather than go to a meeting and debate, again, this matter another tactic was utilized. A majority of the 12 member advised they would attend the meeting—and thus no quorum.

Another issue that was problematic for the special called meeting was location. The Shreveport city council had a lengthy executive session to discuss pending litigation scheduled to begin in the chambers at Government Plaza at 4 p.m. The commission meeting was set for 4:30 p.m. in the chambers.

Politicos can only surmise who the intended beneficiary(ies) of the last minute attempt to relax the qualifications for the clerk’s position.