Yes, it has become a circus for several reasons.
The first factor has been the COVID pandemic.
Up until the meeting on Tues. July 28 the Shreveport City Council had Zoom meetings starting in March with the Governor's executive order. That meant no public meetings and no opportunity for citizens to address the council on any topic for 3 minutes.
With the advent of Zoom all citizen comments could be emailed or mailed to the council clerk's office to be read into the record. With many armchair quarterbacks home due to the pandemic, the volume of citizen comments tripled--or maybe increased by four times.
At first blush one can say that is great--citizens are taking part in government. But the reality is that social media addicts float templates of comments to be forwarded to the council on the same subject, many sent were verbatim.
Suddenly the citizen comments, which had to be read into the records, often take 90 minutes of council time at the beginning of the meeting. Most of comments are soup warmed over.
A second reason for the circus is the new practice of reading repetitive comments at repetitive meetings. Seemingly some citizens believe the more something is said, the more validity the comments have.
The same comments have been emailed in on the first and second reading of an ordinance before it could be voted on. And in the case of the anti-smoke ordinance, the comments were read at 4 meetings--for the initial legislation and then for the moratorium.
The council had a first reading of an expansion of the moratorium to local bars on Tues. This will be subject to a vote on Aug. 11. And guess what---many opponents will send in the same old soup.
At the Tues. meeting--the first "live" in 4 months, citizen comments were made in person and emailed/written read into the record. So again a LONG delay before getting down to business.
The third reason for the circus atmosphere factor is that council vice chair Levette Fuller has read most of the comments. Unfortunately she has been unable to separate her personal and politic agenda when performing this routine administrative task.
Watching Fuller on Zoom reading comments for an hour or more is a push on one's patience. Her facial expressions and voice intonations make for good theatre, but not good government.
And to top it off, at Tues. meetings she complained about comments that she did not like. And she said they were templates---ignoring the fact that many templates had circulated for other issues that were her propositions.
Fuller has headed up several campaigns while on the council. Lets go back to sagging pants, opposition to the bond issue, opposition to any annexation, and support of non smoking bans. Thats here right as a council member, but why call out others when they follow the same script?
She should NOT be making her observations on citizen comments while she reading the same. Afterwards is Ok. Calling out neighborhoods like Broadmoor and Southern Trace that are not in her district while reading comments is bad government.
Fuller is known to be "free thinker" who gives great difference to a limited group of citizens and their initiatives versus the interests of her entire district. That is her prerogative as an elected official. But when acting in official function like reading citizen comments and/or chairing a meeting her antics are an abuse of her position.
A fourth circus factor is citizen comments on non-agenda items at the beginning of the meeting. Before a rule change by this council, those were at the end of the agenda.
A group of regulars seeking 3 minutes of fame appear religiously and generally waste time. Comments on non-agenda items should be at the end of the meeting. Citizens appearing on agenda items must waste time listening to this hot air exercise.
Hopefully Councilman James Flurry's health will allow him to attend the next council meeting. The practice of having the council vice chair handle the citizen comment period--both live comments and email should be discontinued ASAP.
The Caddo Commission assigns the comment responsibilities to its clerk and deputy clerk. This practice works extremely well and is void of political agenda. The council should do the same.
The council should also consider adoption of the commission rules that limit the total time on citizens comment on one topic to 15 minutes for the proponents of an agenda item and 15 minutes to the opponents of an agenda item.
The Open Meetings Law only requires citizens comments at regular meetings, not at work sessions. The council will go back to separate work sessions and regular meetings Aug.10 and Aug. 11. Citizen comments should only be allowed at the regular meetings.
The council comment circus needs to end. it is detrimental to the good government. The real business of the council should start no later than 4 p.m.---usually it is after 5 p.m. due to the ad nausem repetitive citizen comment period.
Its time--no long past time, for the circus tent to be moved out of the council meetings. Social media allows many platforms for the peanut gallery that do not need to be part of serious government meetings.
John came to Shreveport in January of 1977 when he was transferred to Barksdale AFB.
He’s been active in Shreveport politics since deciding to make Shreveport his home.
John practiced law for 40 years and he now monitors local politics. He regularly attends Shreveport City Council and Caddo Parish Commission meetings.
John is published weekly in The Inquisitor, bi-monthly in The Forum News, and frequently in the Shreveport Times.
He enjoys addressing civic groups on local government issues and elections.