By: Prentiss Smith • Contributing Columnist
Elections have consequences, and that is certainly no more evident than what happened almost five months ago when Shreveport citizens decided to make a change of course. They decided to elect a Republican mayor to lead a “Democrat” city. It was not expected, but it happened, and now the new mayor is trying to figure out how he is going to move the city forward for the good of all of its citizens.
That starts with him being able to pick the people he wants to work closely with him at city hall. Any chief executive is going to want to have people around him or her that they feel comfortable with. It is vitally important for any leader to have people around them who they can trust to look out for the best interest of the organization they lead and the person who hired them.
Mayor Arceneaux has already passed the initial test that a new leader has to pass, and that is the competency test. Remember what happened in the initial months of the last administration, with insurance gate and trash gate.
It was amateur hour, and it did not allow the new mayor to have a honeymoon period. Mayor Arceneaux’s administration has not had those type of issues because grownups are running the show, and that is apparent. The mayor has to be able to delegate, and this mayor appears to have the ability to do that.
That starts and stops with who the mayor has as his or her right-hand man or woman, whatever the case is. Their “ride or die” guy or gal that is going to give it to them straight. The person who knows the lay of the land and where the metaphoric “bodies are buried” at city hall. Tom Dark is that dude, and the mayor showed his political dexterity when he chose Mr. Dark to be his interim chief administrative officer (CAO).
Mr. Dark is eminently qualified, and has a proven track record of handling the job with the type of experience and attitude that is needed to run a city the size of Shreveport. The CAO is the eyes and ears of the mayor and reports directly to the mayor.
The mayor has to have confidence that whoever is in that position is there to first make the right decisions for the city. Secondly, that person has to be able to manage all of the ins and outs of city government, which are vast.
The new mayor showed a lot of political maturity when he chose Mr. Dark as the person to help him be an effective leader. The city of Shreveport is a large operation with a $500 million budget and over 2,500 employees. Yes, Mayor Arceneaux is a former two-term city councilman, but legislating is not like leading. Being the chief executive of the city is totally different, and the choice of someone like Mr. Dark, who has seen it all, was a great political move by the new mayor.
The choice of Mrs. Fields-Jones to be director of finance was also a brilliant political move. She is more than qualified to do the job, and there is no letdown in appointing someone to do the job who has done it before. Knowing the lay of the financial landscape of the city is vitally important to how the city is going to move forward to do the things that the new mayor promised, like addressing crime, street repairs, lighting and blight. Managing the finances of the city will be a challenge going forward.
It is very heartening to see that this mayor is not about the business of rewarding political allies. It appears that his focus is on finding those individuals with the required skills and vision who will help him bring meaningful change to the city. Citizens deserve an administration that that will work collaboratively toward their best interests without regard to partisan politics. The citizens gave Mr. Arceneaux the keys to the city, and he should be allowed to develop an administration the way he sees fit.
Resisting the mayor’s appointments amount to obstructionism, with individuals looking like they are more concerned with protecting their own power than meeting the community needs. That is unacceptable, and the mayor deserves the right to appoint the people to his administration that he believes will do the jobs effectively and competently.
Shreveport is at a crossroads right now. Crime is at an all-time high, although it has declined slightly in some areas. Black-on-black homicides continue to be a problem, along with the proliferation of guns in the at-risk neighborhoods around Shreveport. City services are not always the best, along with bad streets and poor lighting. White flight is a problem, which adds to revenue woes, and the blight around the city needs addressing sooner, rather than later.
Hyper-partisan politics are usually not the problem for most local governments. City council members and mayors tend to work together for the good of the city. There are certainly going to be times when the parties disagree on certain issues, but to be obstructionist just because you can is not going to work for the citizens of Shreveport.
Mayor Arceneaux won by a wide margin, and he has earned the right to pick the people he feels will serve the city well and serve him well. He has picked Tom Dark to be his chief administrative officer and Mrs. Fields-Jones to be his chief financial officer, and they should be confirmed by the council as soon as possible. And that’s my take. smithpren@aol.com