By Bill Robertson
Alan Clarke’s pending retirement in December as executive director of the Metropolitan Planning Commission means this vital position in Shreveport city government will become vacant as of January 2026.
It appears he will not be replaced until mid-2026 at the earliest, according to the five-member committee of the MPC in charge of replacing him.
Clarke became executive director in January 2019 after the resignation of Mark Sweeney. Per his social media, Clarke previously served the MPC for 31 years as its zoning administrator. Before that, he was a planner in the City’s economic development department.
Sweeney’s MPC tenure was stormy, in part due to his leadership during the City’s adoption of a new master plan for growth and accompanying Unified Development Code. Clarke has worked to update the master plan, but the effort has been marked by a lack of public interest and personnel turnover at the City’s plan consultant, the Asakura Robinson firm of Houston.
Previous MPC directors include Charles Kirkland and Steve Pitkin. The job requires expertise in urban planning and an ability to referee the competing demands of developers, landowners, neighborhood activists and elected officials.
In recent years the MPC has stirred controversy among residents of nearby rural communities opposed to land-use controls. A decades-long, State-sanctioned agreement on urban planning between the City of Shreveport and Caddo Parish Commission ended during Clarke’s tenure when rural residents balked at enforcement actions by the MPC staff.
The controversy prompted anti-government State Rep. Danny McCormick of Oil City to pass State legislation ending the City-Parish agreement.
Unlike other City department heads, the staff director of the MPC serves at the pleasure of the nine-member MPC board and not the mayor and City Council. Clarke’s June retirement announcement prompted MPC Chairman Winzer Andrews to appoint a five-member committee to find and nominate a new director to the full commission.
In addition to Andrews as its chair, the MPC members on the Search Committee are Dr. Toni Thibaut, Chris Elberson, Harold Sater and Fred Moss.
At a meeting earlier this month, the Search Committee learned that deteriorating City finances mean the MPC will likely not be able to have a new director in place when Clarke leaves. That is because the administration of Mayor Tom Arceneaux expects a gap of $5-8 million between 2026 City revenues and expenses.
For the MPC, according to a memo to Clarke from City Chief Administrative Officer Tom Dark, that shortfall means a “noticeable reduction” in the City’s contribution to the MPC budget from 2025.
With that bad news, Clarke and Andrews outlined possible measures the MPC could take to deal with the “noticeable reduction.” The three options feature, among other things, not filling staff vacancies, reducing or ending staff and board-member training, and eliminating outside legal counsel.
All the options assume that Clarke’s replacement will not come on board until mid- to late-2026. Andrews said Deputy MPC Director Stephen Jean would be asked to serve as interim director at his current salary plus an incremental amount to compensate him for increased duties as director.
Jean has told MPC members he plans to apply for the executive-director position.
The Search Committee is scheduled to meet again on Thursday, September 25, at 2 p.m. in the MPC offices at Government Plaza. All meetings are public and available via Facebook.
Bill Robertson is a member of the Metropolitan Planning Commission.