The purpose of the Caddo Commission is to conduct the business of the parish. The Commission's primary responsibilities are roads, bridges, and drainage in the unincorporated areas of the parish. The Commission also has the responsibility for animal control throughout the parish.
The Caddo Parish owns Caddo Correctional Center, Caddo Courthouse, and other buildings in the parish as well as parks in the unincorporated areas of the Parish. The Commission oversees the maintenance and operation of these facilities. It also doles out tax dollars to multiple nonprofit entities that supposedly have programs to benefit Caddo citizens (NGOS).
The Commission's charter does NOT have enumerated powers to recognize Caddo citizens for their accomplishments, birth lineage, or social standing. But in recent years certain Commissioners have taken it upon themselves to regularly introduce resolutions recognizing and honoring people. Seemingly the criteria is to be the best bud or maybe church member of a commissioner and the recognition is generally for mundane actions, like just doing one's paid job well, or baking a cake for a homebound person.
In addition, many commissioners feel compelled to have resolutions acknowledging national and state honorary days--such as pet your dog day, clean your gutters day, etc. etc. etc. These resolutions offer nothing of substance nor do they further the cause of the sponsoring entity. They do waste staff time and time at the meetings.
The result of this pattern is to clog up the Commission agenda and waste time for those who want to observe government in action--like discussing and voting on ordinances, etc. Frequently the resolutions, which require reading and comments from those recognized along with commissioners who love to be co-sponsors, absorb an hour or more at the beginning of a meeting. This means a meeting that starts at 3:30 p.m. rarely get down to real business until 5 p.m. or later.
The Commission should change its agenda. Reserve comments from the commissioners which frequently are more self-serving than productive until the real business is completed. And then have all the resolutions recognitions after that--say starting at 5:30 p.m.
This change would have many benefits. The first is to allow citizens in attendance or streaming to observe the business actions of the Commission first. Secondly, those recognized and their clan to be there in support could arrive later--not miss work and park for free on the streets after 5 p.m. It would also help the media who wants to report Caddo business in the 5 or 6 o'clock news.
Currently, Commission meetings more resemble a resolution recognition circus, complete with blues and whistles, than a serious assembly for governance. All that is often missing are peanut and cotton candy vendors. It’s time for the business of the Commission is handled on the front-end of meetings and not at the end.