There are two vacancies of the Caddo Parish Industrial Development Board (IDB). The Caddo Commission will most likely fill these seats at its next meeting on Jan. 23.

These positions were held by Lemar Flukers and Larry Ferdinand, who are African Americans.

Commissioner Steven Jackson has nominated Marvin Mohammed. Commissioner John Atkins has nominated former city attorney Will Bradford.

The resumes of both Mohammed and Bradford are attached. They are both worthy of review.

Sadly, the Commission has not publicized the vacancies. Thus citizens who may be interested in serving on this board have been kept in the dark.

To make matters worse, the circumstances surrounding the vacancies are curious at best, and suspicious at worst.

At a Dec. commission meeting Jackson said that Flukers would step down if someone wanted to serve. Flukers did not communicate this fact to any other commissioners. Jackson then surprised the commissioners with his nomination.

At the last commission meeting Atkins nominated Bradford for this spot.

Then Jackson said that Ferdinand had communicated to him his resignation. He also said that the terms of both Flukers and Ferdiand had expired. (The Caddo Parish website reflects that both these terms expire in 2020.)

Based on Jackson's representations, the commission passed a resolution removing both Flukers and Ferdinand from the IDB. That left the two vacancies and the only two nominations for the IDB.

The primary purpose of the IDB is to provide financial structures which can help incentivize companies to move to Caddo Parish or expand their existing operations. The IDB can lower the borrowing costs and/or reduce tax payment.

Two important tools available to the IDB include the ability to set up agreements for payments instead of taxes. Another is to assist with the bonding capacity of a business.

The IDB manages the arrangement with IRG at the GM plant.

The other members of the IDB are Dr. Henry Arrington, Tanita Glibert-Baker, Ricky Hall, Kyle McInnis, Brad Schmidt, Archer Frierson, Vincent D. Rice Jr. Zazell Dudly, and Roger Dekay.

Good government practices dictate that vacancies on parish-wide boards be noticed to the public. And that interested members of the public are invited to apply, setting forth any requirements for the position.

Citizens interested in serving on the IDB should promptly--like by noon on Monday, January 20 --send their resume to a Caddo Commissioner. Hopefully the commission will have several persons to fill these two important positions.