The ugly, ugly, ugly impasse between Shreveport Mayor Adrian Perkins and the Shreveport City Council over two mayoral appointments needs to end. Perkins has nominated Henry Whitehorn to be the chief administrative officer (CAO) and Sherricka Fields Jones, the current CAO, to be the new chief financial officer (CFO).
No one is gaining anything from this "debate" that has spilled over from talk radio and social media to disappointing, unneeded standoffs in the council chambers. These televised verbal jousting matches have only ratcheted up the underlying fusses.
On the council agenda for Tuesday is the appointment of Fields Jones as the CFO. The appointment resolution also provides that this new position reports to the mayor, not the CAO.
Jones should be approved as the city's director of finance or in a position titled CFO, with the essentially the same duties. She can manage the finance department and assume any other duties assigned by the mayor just like other department heads.
The fuss over to whom the CFO reports is really an academic one that bears no real merit. Every city employee ultimately reports to the mayor without regard to department organizational structures.
If the sticking point is the chain of command for Field Jones, then leave it as the CAO. The mayor can certainly decide the relationship between the CAO, the CFO and himself without council approval.
At the Feb. 5 council meeting, the appointment of Whitehorn was defeated by a 3-3 tie vote. The mayor will place this nomination on the agenda for introduction on Tuesday, March 10, with a confirmation date of March 24.
The mayor should be granted the political courtesy of picking without debate his CAO.
Shreveport's mayor-council form of government as set forth in the city charter does not provide for a city manager. Under the charter the CAO reports to the mayor, not the council.
The concerns expressed by the three Republican council members over Whitehorn have some merit, but not to the point of denying the appointment. A good compromise for both the mayor and the council is to name Whitehorn as the interim CAO for a year.
The title is the same, the duties are the same, and the pay is the same. The only restriction is that the council must review Whitehorn's performance after a year.
Certainly, every council member and especially the Republicans should be more concerned about more pressing city issues such as public safety, streets and drainage, city reserves, and consent decree compliance costs to name a few.
It’s time for the mayor and the council to both put down their fiddles and address the fire.
THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED IN THE March 6 ISSUE OF THE INQUISITOR.