With slightly more than a year and a half of perspective, it seems clear that the Perkins administration left a number of messes to be cleaned up, which Mayor Arceneaux has gamely taken on, one by one. To date, the Arceneaux administration has resolved the expiration of critical ad valorum taxes, corrected budgeting errors related to American Rescue Funds, addressed citizen concerns regarding property standards and major eyesores, such as the three Shreveport water towers, and most recently saw the short-term fruits of administration efforts involving Mr. Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson.

Among the many remaining issues are a series of employment-related lawsuits filed against the city for actions that occurred during Perkins’ time in office. Noted civil rights attorney Allison Jones is leading three of them, two in Federal court and one in State. With a reputation for taking cases with merit, it would seem the Arceneaux administration would want to resolve the issues created by his predecessor rather than facing Jones, and paying to keep the lights on for the City’s outside contracted attorney, Mr. Reginald Abrams, and thereby charging those hefty attorney’s fees indirectly to the Shreveport taxpayer.

Hebert’s State court case received significant attention in the media when it was filed October 2021, as a so-called whistleblower action. Ben Hebert, a long-time City financial controller, alleges he was illegally terminated after bringing certain financial improprieties to the Mayor’s attention, and refusing to process transactions he felt were against the law.

Former SPAR Assistant Director Mero‘s Federal lawsuit, filed August 2023, alleges that he too was illegally terminated after bringing contract improprieties to the attention of the Director of SPAR, with additional allegations involving discrimination and defamation.

Mouton‘s October 2023 Federal suit is somewhat more complex: the former Economic Development Director alleges that after bringing certain improprieties to the Mayor’s attention, he was subjected to a collusive effort to publicly disparage and defame him, not just fire him, as part of a sham investigative process triggered by his attempt to fire a disruptive member of his staff. His lawsuit suggests evidence is available that the prior administration made provably false statements in the course of that investigation, with an intention to defame, both of which are crimes under Louisiana code.

Prior to each of these lawsuits, all three men were known around town to be, perhaps, strident in their opinions, but otherwise honorable and honest in their dealings. The public should hope that our current mayor sees the benefit to a speedy resolution, rather than risking expensive and costly public trials.