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Adrian Perkins was sworn in as Shreveport’s new mayor on December 29.

The Shreveport City Council was also sworn in on that date. With four new council members joined three incumbents..

In his inaugural address Perkins emphasized the need for unity in the city. He said the city was stronger when citizens work together. He emphasized that everyone in the community will have a seat at the table during this administration.

Perkins likened economic inequality, crime, and outdated infrastructure to a log jam just like the 180 mile Great Raft on the Red River that Capt. Henry Shreve removed. And he promised to work tirelessly to remove these obstacles, one log at time.

At the first city council meeting on that same day he addressed the council as his teammates. He promised to work with them, not against them and to keep them involved in this administration.

He concluded his inauguration address by stating that together the city could forge a new vision. His family upbringing, his education and military experience, and his attitude promise new hope for the city.

Hopefully all citizens of Shreveport will embrace the new mayor and new council, give them time to make progress and support them one hundred per cent.

(This article was published in The Shreveport Sun on Thursday, January 10, 2019)

Maybe it was age.

 

Or personal backgrounds.

 

In the early days after being elected, Ollie Tyler and Adrian Perkins were like night and day.

 

Tyler all but won the mayor’s race in 2014 by polling 44% of the primary vote.  She won the general election with 63% of the vote.

 

Perkins lead the field with 29 percent over Tyler’s 25% in the October primary.  He won the general election with 64% of the vote.

 

Tyler did practically no campaigning between the primary and the general election.

 

Perkins worked tirelessly after the primary until the polls closed on December 8.

 

Tyler was sworn in as mayor on Dec. 27, 2014.

 

Perkins took office on Dec. 29, 2018.

 

Tyler was 69 when she became mayor.

 

Perkins is 33.

 

Tyler selected a 10 member local transition team on Dec. 15 , 2014.  She did not announce it to the public until Dec. 29.

 

Tyler said the transition team would act as an advisory board on Tyler’s appointees. The board was to also advise Tyler on policy and plans.

 

Perkins announced his 13 member advisory board on December 13. Perkins also set up a “Future of Shreveport” website on the same day with their names and bios.

 

Perkins said his advisory board would oversee the development and production of a transition report.  Eight committees are to be established to develop “white papers” reports that will serve as a roadmap for his administration.

 

Tyler started setting up meetings with city council members and city department heads after being sworn in.

 

Perkins met with these individuals the week after he was elected.

 

Tyler had her first press conference three days after taking office.

 

Perkins held his first press conference two hours after his inauguration ceremony ended.

 

Tyler announced at her first press conference that should decide department heads in her first few months.  Ultimately she retained all of those appointed by her predecessor Cedric Glover.

 

Perkins decided before being sworn in which city department heads would definitely be retained (Community Development Director Bonnie Moore and City Engineer Patrick Furlong). He is accepting resumes for all other department head positions, including the airport director.

 

Tyler promised in her first press conference that she would be accessible to the public and that calls to her office would be answered.

         

Perkins promised regular press conferences, a responsive media communications manager, and department heads authorized to answer press inquiries.

 

Tyler’s post election calendar reflected her background as a bureaucratic administrator.

 

Perkin’s background as a military commander was obvious from day one after his election.

(This article was published in The Shreveport Times on Sunday, January 6, 2019)

New Shreveport mayor Adrian Perkins took office on December 29.

In his inaugural address he promised to seek an international airport designation for the Shreveport regional airport, to remove Metropolitan Planning Commission (MPC) red tape, and work to make Shreveport a transportation hub.

The airport authority has four citizens appointed members.

The MPC has a nine member board. Four members are appointed by the mayor. One member is a joint appointment with the Caddo Commission. The other four members are Caddo Commission appointees.

The port of Shreveport Bossier has nine commissioners. Five of these are appointed by the city of Shreveport.

In theory these board members supervise MPC interim executive Director Alan Clarke, airport executive director Henry Thompson and port executive director Eric England.

Each of these respective bodies have been subject to well founded public criticism. Each is funded by Shreveport tax dollars. Each have important roles in the vitality of Shreveport’s economy.

Mayor Perkins is entitled to have his own appointees on all these boards. All of these members should promptly tender letters of resignation.

The members of the Property Standards Board , the Architect & Engineering Committee, and other committees/commissions should follow suit.

Then the new mayor can decide which persons should remain on these boards.

If Perkins is going to be successful in re-vitalizing the Shreveport economy, he should have all the tools to do so in his tool box. This includes the flexibility to appoint new citizens to these important positions.

(This article was published in The Inquisitor on Friday, January 4, 2019)

Well, the parties are over.

Adrian Perkins won the mayoral election on Saturday, December 8.

He was sworn into office on the morning of Saturday, December 29.

That night he hosted a black tie, open-to-the-public gala at the convention center.

Perkins moved into his new digs at city hall over the weekend. He actually worked as mayor on New Year’s Eve.

His first city council meetings are Monday and Tuesday, January 7 and 8.

Now that the euphoria over his historic victory has subsided, what lies ahead for Perkins?

THE GOOD

Perkins will start with a council that is excited over this victory. He can expect a honeymoon period when his plans will be readily adopted.

Perkins will have full discretion to name his administrative staff. This means many new faces will be in the city’s executive office as well as a new city attorney. And several city departments may have new leadership.

Perkins has been enthusiastically been received by the business community. He can expect support for many of his projects from this important sector.

The same can be said about citizens throughout the city. Many have expressed interest in becoming part of study groups to work with this transition team.

The city’s bond indebtedness was substantially paid down by the Tyler administration. Thus the city’s capacity to fund further capital improvements by bond issuances has increased.

Perkins has assembled a diverse well-qualified transition team. His plans to have citizen involvement in assisting this group is a welcome opportunity to tap into resources from Shreveport citizens.

THE BAD

Perkins is stuck with Shreveport Police Chief Alan Crump until his retirement. This is expected by mid-year, but it could be sooner. In the meantime, Perkins can implement new strategies for dealing with crime working with substitute SPD chief Ben Raymond.

Perkins is locked into the water/sewer replacement/renovation projects mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency consent decree. Better coordination of the work programs with utility companies and city street improvement projects is needed as well a review of total estimated costs as compared to bond funding.

The budget that was passed by the last council in December has estimated expenses over anticipated revenues. The city reserves are slated to subsidize the budget to the tune of $6 million dollars.

The sanitation department has consistently had challenges with its labor force. A “sick out” occurred the week before the general election and the discrepancy of wages paid by the private Bossier collection agency became a public issue.

Comparable pay for Shreveport police officers has been a constant challenge in recent years. Funding to promote the retention and recruitment of seasoned officers should be critical component of any budget re-structuring.

The convention center is an annual drain on the city’s revenues, which is normal for these facilities. The 2019 budget anticipates a $1.7 million operating deficit. The budget also includes $2 million dollars for necessary capital repairs and facility updates.

The Hilton now operates at a profit. Estimated 2018 revenues over expenses was approximately $864 thousand. The excess moneys are to be utilized for facility upgrades and reserve maintenance fund.

THE UGLY

The city’s reserves should be $15 million dollars. The current budget forecasts a reserve of $2 million at the end of 2019. The reserve funds affect future municipal bond ratings, and thus the cost of borrowing money.

The Shreveport Department headquarters on Texas Avenue and Murphy have well-documented problems with air circulation, plumbing, and possible black mold. The costs to build and/or renovate the HQ has been estimated to be $26 million.

Shreveport has major blighted neighborhoods and a very large number of adjudicated properties. Stabilizing urban blight is hampered by complex legal issues and substantial funding requirements.

Increasing costs for health insurance and employee retirement plan contributions are major budget items. Additionally, the city budget is under pressure to contribute to unfunded retirement plan reserves.

Shreveport’s continuing population loss is the result of many factors, some of which are outside the scope of city Government. Nonetheless, a proactive strategy should be adopted soon to deal with this issue which has many far-reaching negative consequences.

The retained risk fund is a budget set aside for potential outstanding claims against the city. The 2018 reserve of $5.57 million is increased to by $8.2 million in 2019 based on the recommendation of external auditors.

BOTTOM LINE

Perkins will have a full plate in moving Shreveport forward.

As shown by his campaign, he has a strong work ethic and the discipline to implement a successful campaign.

This undergraduate economics degree from West Point and his law degree from Harvard equip him well with background knowledge to understand the complexities of city Government.

With support from the entire community and especially the downtown business sector, Perkins should be able to develop and then implement progressive business strategies at city hall.

Shreveport should give Perkins the time to make long overdue changes in the way the government has worked in Shreveport for the last 12 years.

(This article was published in The Forum on Wednesday, January 2, 2019)

It was a year for ups and downs for the Shreveport City Council.

Perhaps more than ever before the limitations of this elected body were exposed.

Despite constant complaints, the council was virtually powerless to deal with constituent concerns over Shreveport crime, water bills, building restrictions, and street disruptions

The council has no authority to fire or hire a police chief. Nor can it mandate police strategies or staffing.

This body can only vote on funding for the Shreveport Police Department.

The council had no magic wand to correct obvious challenges with bills sent by the Department of Water and Sewage. Working with the Ollie Tyler administration the council vetted several proposals for a new water billing system and selected a vendor.

The 2019 budget adopted earlier this month funded $1 million for purchase, installation, and implementation of a new billing system. This vote did not resolve the water billing litigation nor the outstanding business claims for overbilling refunds.

The Metropolitan Planning Commission (MPC) was the brunt of considerate criticism by the building development committee. The furor was fueled by an overly restrictive development code and an inflexible executive director.

After intervention by the Greater Shreveport Chamber of Commerce, substantial business-friendly amendments were made to the Unified Development Code. And after the departure of long embattled MPC Executive Director Mark Sweeney, the council restored full funding to the MPC.

Street repairs was another source of constituent complaints. The court-ordered water/sewer repairs resulted in seemingly constant street disruptions.

Installations by utility companies that did not coordinate their efforts with the city and each other further exacerbated the problem. The council could not force Mayor Tyler to deal effectively with this administrative quagmire despite constant efforts.

The council continued funding and implementation of mygovernmentonline.com. This website will initially track permits and applications.

Hopefully, this will be expanded in future years to provide more transparency. Open checkbook BR tracks all expenditures of the East Baton Rouge city-parish government.

The council had to consider for the second year in a row a Cross Bayou development project. In 2017 the council refused a request by Tyler to hire bond counsel for a proposed sports arena complex.

This year a $1 billion dollar mixed-use public private partnership was presented to the council. After much debate, a resolution encouraging the mayor to sign a Memorandum of Understanding passed on a 4-3 vote. Tyler ignored the resolution.

In its last major vote of the year, the council approved the city’s 2019 budget. Based on the anticipated year-end surplus along with the anticipated revenues and expenses for the upcoming year. The adopted budget anticipates spending $6 million of the city’s expected year end reserve of $8 million.

Council members emphasized that the prior Tyler budgets had underestimated revenues and overestimated expenses as justification for their votes. In essence, they kicked the budget can to the incoming mayor and council which can, as is the established practice, amend the budget as the year goes along.

The council’s effectiveness was hindered by the 2018 elections. Three of its seven members ran for re-election. The mayor’s attitude of non-cooperation with the council was further strained by Tyler’s unsuccessful effort to return for another four-year term.

On balance it was a good year for the council. This group did as much as it could, under the circumstances, to improve city government.

Never in Shreveport’s history had the powers of the mayor vis-a-vis the council become more apparent. Hopefully, the four new incoming council members understand this reality.

(This article was published in The Shreveport Times on Sunday, December 30, 2018)

They will be has-beens on Saturday.

Eight years of public service will have ended.

Their lives, and that of their families, will never be the same.

Jeff Everson, Oliver Jenkins, and Mike Corbin were sworn in as new Shreveport council members in Dec. 2010.

Once sworn into office, their personal privacy all but vanished. And what was touted as a part-time job meeting eight times a month, soon became a daily duty.

They quickly became moving targets for those that wanted to gripe about anything. Whether the complaint was related to Shreveport’s city government or not.

They were the only council members to serve while Cedric Glover and Ollie Tyler were mayors. They experienced substantial differences in the two administrations.

They voted consistently on most major issues that came before the council. Their votes were based on what was best for their district and the city.

And when the two conflicted, they put the city first. Sometimes they were “heroes” or “goats” or both.

They had excellent attendance records at council meetings as well as the council committee meetings. They read and studied the agendas and the issues that were subject to their votes.

They accommodated the media and did not dodge questions on their decision making.

Each relied on their backgrounds in providing major roles on the council.

With Everson, it was his prior employment as an urban planner. Jenkin’s military career equipped him with a keen sense of organizational structure and planning. Corbin’s financial background served him well as the audit/money guru on the Council.

In eight years they dealt with controversial zoning appeals, street repair ordinances, and budget issues.

Some of the more publicized issues that landed at the council include the dog park, LA 3132, Unified Development Code, EPA Consent Decree, I-49 Inner City Connector, property taxes, maintenance of city buildings and the two Cross Bayou development proposals.

Everson represented District B, Jenkins District C, and Corbin District D.

LeVette Fuller follows Everson, John Nichelson will replace Jenkins. Grayson Boucher succeeds Corbin. Their first council meeting will be at noon Saturday, Dec. 29.

All three set high bars for their successors—both individually and collectively.

(This article was/will be published in The Inquisitor on Friday, December 28, 2018.)

Plenty.

And it’s much more than the just a “explain to me what you do before you leave the building” walk-through.

Last week Shreveport Mayor-elect Perkins named a 14-member transition advisory board.

Its members were both local and from out of town. They consisted of business, military, legal and academic people.

Termed a “transition management organization” this group is charged with overseeing the development of “white paper” policy report to be released in the first quarter of next year.

Perkins is seeking an analysis of Shreveport’s government in terms of the services provided and operational policies. Additionally, he expects to have goals and objectives for his four-year term.

The transition organization will soon have a website that sets forth various committees and the opportunities for citizens to volunteer to assist.

New Orleans mayor LaToya Cantrell followed a similar course of action after her August 2017 election.

Her team produced a 130 page plus report titled “Forward Together New Orleans.” It contained reports from committees on infrastructure, public safety, neighborhood stabilization, healthy families, economic development and government operations.

Cantrell released the report a few days before her May 2018 inauguration. Cantrell said that it would be a guide for her administration.

The Cantrell transition team was criticized for not having any public participation after it had promised to send out surveys to residents and to hold at least one public meeting.

The New Orleans media complained of no interim briefings before the findings were released. People who worked on the various committees were bound to not discuss their work by non-disclosure agreements that did not expire until after the report was released.

The Forward Together team obtained input from over 250 people.

Perkins has yet to announce the actual scope of his expected report. This will most likely be decided on early January when the transition team is operational.

Cantrell had the benefit of a five-month transition period after her election before she was sworn in as mayor.

Perkins only has a scant three weeks after his election before taking office on Saturday, Dec. 29.

Perkins and his advisors hit the ground running after his Dec. 8 victory. They have met with outgoing Mayor Tyler and city department heads. They have also requested documents.

Perkins is basically creating his own playbook for the changing of the guard at city hall.

The city does not have a policy procedure guide for a change in mayoral administrations. Perkins intends to develop one.

Expect Perkins to officially announce key officials in his administration shortly after his inauguration, if not before.

His goal is to “get it right the first time” as he moves into the mayor’s office, names staff and decides department heads.

From all indications, he is doing just that.

(This article will be/was published in The Shreveport Times of Sunday, December 23, 2018)