Perkins has just started his second year as the mayor of Shreveport.
His first year had highs, lows and political mistakes.
This is the norm for every mayor.
Especially for rookie, first-year mayors.
Despite it all, Shreveport’s government is in a much better condition starting 2020 than it was in 2019.
These facts should be acknowledged:
1. The mayor proposed and the council adopted the 2020 budget that increases funds for public safety and cuts expenditures. This enables the city to build up its reserves. This budget was not “balanced” by utilizing reserve funds.
2. The city’s insurance coverage has been thoroughly vetted and has been placed with a local established company effective April 1.
3. The mayor hired a new consent decree manager. This company has provided the mayor and council the first and only analysis of the work that has been accomplished, the challenges encountered and the lack of funding for full compliance with the decree. This briefing was not good news, but it was the first full disclosure ever provided to the city. It will certainly help the mayor and council chart a better path forward.
4. The mayor hired a new chief and deputy chief for the Shreveport Police Department (SPD).
5. The mayor hired a new, very well qualified chief administrative officer.
6. The mayor hired the city’s first chief technology officer (CTO), who has substantially reduced the city’s external technology costs while upgrading the internal technology systems. The CTO also hired a data scientist who discovered an accounting oversight from previous administrations that revealed a two (or more) million dollars in open purchase orders, which may be used to bolster the reserve fund. The CTO also created the people's budget which provides citizens with a user-friendly dashboard that translates budget into easy to understand charts and interactive graphs increasing transparency.
7. The city’s finance department has been audited, the many deficiencies corrected, and the prior finance director is no longer a city employee.
8. The mayor proposed and the city council adopted a sanitation fee. This addresses the costs of this non-revenue-generating city service.
9. The city entered into negotiations to settle the class action litigation over excessive water bills and passed an ordinance to address future billing.
10. The mayor started an environmental control unit within SPD to deal with litter crimes.
11. The mayor selected a new airport director — after 11 months of an open position.
12. The council adopted a new environmental code introduced by the mayor to replace the property standards code that became effective on Jan.1.
13. The city has the second lowest crime year in 50 years including a 9% decrease in overall crime and a 29% decrease in homicides.
14. The mayor increased the summer internship program to more than 150 high school and college students.
15. The mayor announced in December he would appoint an 11-person Commission on Race and Cultural Diversity in early 2020. He appointed a three-person advisory committee. Over 100 applicants by year end had been received by year end.
Of course, there are many issues that the mayor and/ or the council have not satisfactorily addressed. Limited city finances have necessitated compromises.
Much of the news from city hall, especially on the city’s finances and city resources, has not been rosy and nice. But at least it has been reported, and it was not sugarcoated.
In many instances, citizens have forgotten that Perkins was only the messenger, the captain of the ship taking over after it was off course. And for Perkins, it was his maiden voyage.
So now that the first year’s dust has settled, what attitude should Shreveport citizens have about Perkins?
They can continue to complain, look backwards and finger point. They can go into a cave, and just write city hall off as an institution. Or they can wipe the slate clean, and give the mayor a fresh start.
Hopefully Shreveporters will start 2020 with new hope, a new attitude and a new commitment to improve the city for all its citizens.
This Article was published in the January 3rd issue of The Inquisitor.