The Shreveport City Council voted on Tuesday to confirm the appointment of Chief Financial Officer Sherricka Field Jones. Fields who is currently the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) for the City of Shreveport will report directly to the mayor and not to the next CAO.
The council approved the appointment in a 6 to 1 vote, with Grayson Boucher, District D, being the nea.
Council member Levette Fuller, District B, read the following statement before her vote.
“I intend to support the creation of this position of CFO and subsequently the appointment of Mrs. Sherricka Fields Jones to the position, but I do so with acknowledgement of the gravity of this change to organizational structure. Mrs. Fields-Jones’s competence and abilities are not in question. She has served admirably for the last year plus after receiving unanimous council support for her appointment to the position of Chief Administrative Officer.
“What concerns me is that many people whom I admire have approached me to express their perspectives that the creation of this position, while within the purview of the Mayor and Council, has serious implications to the charter. This appointment and the placement of CFO as a direct report to the Mayor is seen as a decision outside the intent of how the drafters of our Charter expected the city to operate. I want to state for the record that I believe these issues should be addressed and that I believe the best place for them to be addressed is through the court system. I welcome the scrutiny to this process, but I also want to support the Mayor’s desire to operate this city efficiently and to get back to the business of working together to face the many challenges currently in our path as a community.
“While this may not be the way many of my colleagues would proceed, I believe it is outside the scope of this body to micro manage the operations of the executive branch of our government and that we should move forward with our routine operations and consider allowing the judicial system to confirm or disprove the suspicions of Charter scholars.”
THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED IN THE March 13 ISSUE OF FOCUS SB - THE INQUISITOR.