JOHN E. SETTLE JR
Editor / Publisher
Focus SB News
Who really knows?
Stacy Brown, the executive director of the Shreveport-Bossier Tourist and Convention Bureau (SBTCB), unceremoniously terminated Kelly Wells, the longtime executive director of the Shreveport-Bossier Sports Commission (Sports Commission), on March 30.
Brown, tight-lipped as ever, has said very little publicly about the termination. She cited a consultant's report that recommended a reorganization of the Sports Commission.
Brown has failed to respond to a Public Records Request for the consultant's report.
Wells was given a termination package that included a non-disclosure agreement.
The Sports Commission has been very successful in bringing many well-attended and well-publicized events to this area. Seemingly, the Commission was doing its job quite well -- maybe too well -- and overshadowing the other efforts of the SBTCB and Brown.
Brown has been entrenched as the SBTCB executive director for many years, and she basically has free rein in how she runs the bureau at her unbridled discretion.
The SBTCB is funded from a hotel/motel tax in Caddo and Bossier parishes.
The bureau is known, in a bad way, for its over-the-top projections of the economic benefit of local events, ranging from Mardi Gras parades to the Independence Bowl.
Brown makes regular presentations to the Shreveport and Bossier councils and the Caddo Commission and Bossier Police jury that are very long on hype and very short on substantiated details.
Many have questioned the effectiveness of the bureau apart from the Sports Commission. Its promotional campaign titled "Shreveport-Bossier: Louisiana's Other Side" has failed to resonate with many in the local community.
Due to its stakeholders, which are really the local hotels/motels, Brown has very little direction from its board.
She has built a real kingdom, and with the termination of Wells, has now surrounded her castle with a large, alligator-filled moat. Ask a hard question, and you may lose your hand.