This is advice from the peanut gallery. And yes, it starts even before Mayor-Elect Tom Arceneaux takes office on Sat. Dec. 31.
Not that Mayor Tom and his interim chief administrative officer (CA0) Tom Dark really need prompting.
Both have substantial city hall experience along with interim financial director Sherricka Fields-Jones and interim city attorney Zelda Tucker. As they say, it’s not the first rodeo for this group.
One major concern of the new administration should be city vendor contracts.
A leading example is the demolition contract for Fairgrounds Field. Work was suspended after litigation concerning the removal of bat guano. Mayor Perkins did not crank this effort back up, leaving this controversial demolition for his successor, Arceneaux.
Several other city vendor contracts have been questioned on the basis of cost, performance, the award process and political influence.
The impact of a "stop order" is both the function of contract language and priority of the contracted labors. A pause in contract performance for 30 days for non-essential services allows time for evaluation by the new team.
Another item of concern is the contracts yet to be executed that the city council has authorized. Council approval does not require the mayor to execute a contract. Thus, some requested services by the council can die on the mayor's desk.
A good example is the approval of approximately $1 million in street repair/improvements for District A, and specifically the MLK area, in mid-2022.
This district is represented by Councilwoman Tabatha Taylor, who had a close alliance with Mayor Perkins. Both Taylor and Councilman Green endorsed Perkins in the primary along with interim
Councilman Alan Jackson. (Jackson struck out again in the general election by endorsing Greg Tarver for mayor.)
City contracts have always been a source of close public scrutiny and even more so after a campaign with heavy contributions by then-city vendors and wannabes who seek city work.
More than ever city officials should take steps to ensure that vendors fully perform at the contracted price. Likewise, city priorities should be quickly set to evaluate the pecking order for execution of new contracts.