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Not Taylor-made

Howard Taylor (right) cited family issues last week when announcing his resignation after just 15 months as CEO of Capital Area United Way. But Taylor’s abrupt departure illustrates the challenges facing nonprofit organizations in 2008.

“Change is something we have to deal with every day,” says Rolfe McCollister, Business Report publisher and head of this year’s United Way Campaign.

In recent months, Baton Rouge Area Chamber CEO Stephen Moret left to oversee Louisiana Economic Development, Louisiana Association of Nonprofit Organizations founder Melissa Flournoy left to oversee RAND Gulf States Policy Institute and East Baton Rouge Parish Library Director Lydia Acosta resigned to become vice president of information services and university librarian at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

“Having to find new leaders and replace people is part of any business and part of any nonprofit,” McCollister says.

Especially these days. A nationwide study conducted by the Daily Labor Report at the end of 2007 indicated that nonprofit agencies and charities might not find their donation jars as full this year as in years past.

“Leading a nonprofit is a very difficult job,” says Angela Vanveckhoven, LANO’s director of communications. “You’re constantly looking for funding. It’s a limited pool of people, and highly competitive.”

Neither Taylor nor Phyllis Mouton, the chairwoman of the CAUW board, would comment on Taylor’s resignation.

“It’s certainly a surprise to everyone,” Mouton says.

Though CAUW board members publicly praised the outgoing leader, there had been increasing speculation that Taylor was under fire for not implementing desired changes fast enough. Those responsible for his hiring last year said they expected Taylor to break private-sector business practices, including the trimming of overhead, to the nonprofit.

Taylor moved to Baton Rouge from Easton, Conn., in January 2007 after more than 25 years as a manager and executive for IT and communications companies.

Mouton would not comment on Taylor’s performance, but says he did “positive things” for CAUW, including the startup of “50 for the Future,” an alliance of young professionals who helped get out information about United Way activities, recruitment of experienced professionals in campaign development, reversing a negative trend in donations to the organization and partnering with LSU to better educate the public to understand community needs.

McCollister says Taylor’s departure will not affect the 2008 campaign. On April 18, 98 companies participated in CAUW’s annual “Day of Caring,” involving 1,585 volunteers [up from 250 last year]. “We’ve got a strong, experienced staff and a lot of enthusiasm,” he says.

Taylor has pledged to stay on to help with the transition for a new CEO. Mouton says she hopes to pick a replacement in the next two months. —Timothy Boone

Park places

Organizers and Mayor Kip Holden announce the Blues Festival will return next year, despite lower-than-anticipated crowds at this year’s event.

Promoters thought going head-to-head with Jazz Fest and Festival International would be a good thing, attracting visitors from both; they might need to rethink the strategy.

A legislative committee has given BREC until May 23 to come up with a plan that would satisfy its critics in Central, or risk losing the city entirely from its tax base.

House Bill 792, by Rep. Bodi White, a Republican who represents part of Central, seeks to remove the community’s residents from BREC’s taxing authority and create a new special recreation district just for Central. On April 24, the House Municipal, Parochial and Cultural Affairs committee deferred action on the bill to allow the two sides to come up with some sort of timeline as to when the various projects in Central might be completed. White says BREC has largely neglected Central’s needs over the years.

“I think the people out there say, ‘C’mon, let’s do it, or we’ll do it ourselves, and if we can’t do it as nice as [BREC], maybe one day we can, and control it,’” White says.

BREC Superintendent Bill Palmer says BREC is working on acquiring four properties in Central, including a 33-acre plot that would be a new community park as promised under the Imagine Your Parks plan approved by voters in 2004. But buying land has been difficult; by law, BREC can’t pay more than the site’s appraised value, but landowners often feel their property is worth more than the appraisers say it is. The ad-hoc committee BREC formed to deal with the issue was scheduled to meet with White and other Central stakeholders on May 6. —David Jacobs

Highland on hold

Cypress Mounds baseball complex is located off Gardere Lane near Burbank Drive. Helmed by former LSU baseball players Brandon Danos, Blake Gill and Eric Weithorn and a board of owners, Cypress Mounds will offer spring and fall league play for ages 9 to 14, and host weekend tournaments. Cal Ripken’s Ripken Management and Design conceived of the park that features a clubhouse and six fields, plus a diamond reserved for special-needs children. Deumite Construction handled construction of the buildings, Munie Greencare Professionals built the baseball fields and Bani Carville and Brown is the architect.

Plans for a Highland Road overlay district have been temporarily put on hold to get more public input. Rachel DiResto, vice president of the Center for Planning Excellence, says meetings will be held in the next few weeks to get comments from people about the subareas, which cover major intersections such as Highland and Staring Lane and Highland and Kenilworth Parkway. The overlay district would stretch from Parker Boulevard to Interstate 10.

The purpose for setting up the district is to protect the “unique and distinctive” characteristics of Highland Road, such as the upscale homes and the mature trees. Included in the plans are requirements for tree permits, which would be needed to cut down any tree more than 10 inches in diameter, and signage ordinances.

“This is all about enhancing and preserving one of the beautiful corridors in Baton Rouge,” DiResto says. “Highland Road is one of the places where we take visitors to show off the best the city has to offer.” —T.B.

BUSINESSofPOLITICS

Petro wants to step up drug tests: Legislation by Baton Rouge Rep. Erich Ponti, a Republican, started out as an effort—at least on paper—to exempt the petrochemical industry from drug testing a specific population of workers. But industry lobbyists contend House Bill 514 was poorly drafted and the intent was just the opposite. That’s why the measure was amended last month and passed out of the House Labor Committee with a new look. It now allows the construction, maintenance and manufacturing sectors to test for even smaller amounts of certain drugs than what’s presently allowed under Louisiana law. Greg Bowser of the Louisiana Chemical Association labels it as a safety precaution, since the proposed guidelines would catch drug-users that are dodging today’s screenings. “You’re allowing employees to be more stringent on their drug testing policies on marijuana than they currently can,” he told the committee. In an interview following the committee hearing, Bowser said marijuana was targeted in the legislation because it is so widely used. In related news, the House Municipal and Parochial Affairs Committee has likewise endorsed House Bill 438 by Rep. Tony Ligi, a Kenner Republican, that would allow city and parish governments to adopt their own testing ordinances for employees that control any kind of vehicle, from aircraft to watercraft.

New tax returns? As painful as it might be for some, filing your state income taxes could soon be done with a sense of purpose—that is, if the Legislature agrees to include a special check-off box for coastal restoration donations. You already have the option, when filling out your individual income tax form, to donate all or a portion of your return to military families, scholarship funds, animal-related programs, cancer trusts, housing initiatives and community-based health care funds. But Senate Bill 697 would create another check-off box for contributions to the Coastal Protection and Restoration Fund, which is used to bankroll a variety of projects, ranging from freshwater diversions to barrier island maintenance. While it’s difficult to estimate how much financial support taxpayers might put into the fund, it would be required by law to bring in at least $10,000 annually over a two-year period to remain on tax forms. Otherwise, it would be taken off. As for costs to the Louisiana Department of Revenue, it’s allowed by the legislation to take as much as 20% of all donations to put toward data processing, accounting and other functions. If eventually ratified, the law would take effect on Jan. 1, 2009—just in time for next year’s tax season.

Politically incorrect question of the week: “How many kids will we be able to put to work with this bill, and will it finally make us competitive with Indonesia?”—Rep. Walt Leger, III, a New Orleans Democrat, jokingly inquiring about legislation that would allow parents to employ their 12-year-old children in the family business. Under current Louisiana law, the minimum age at which a minor can be gainfully employed is 14. But there are federal statutes, which the stateside bill mirrors, that permit a 12-year-old to work in their parents’ business under certain circumstances. —Jeremy Alford

A roaring call

You might be a Mike the Tiger fan if … you dial 769-8841 to hear, “if you want to hear a tiger roar, press 7” and can’t find the button fast enough.

Campus Federal Credit Union decided the “roar” option at the end of its telephone menu made sense, says Kristie Daspit, vice president of marketing. It was added as part of a phone upgrade in 2002 to ease caller stress in dealing with automation, but it’s received such a good response overall that Daspit says Campus Federal officials unanimously agreed “the tiger has to stay” in the next upgrade.

Lots of people are dialing 7. “We have vendors who tell us they love listening to it,” she says, adding, it’s gotten some of them thinking about doing something similar to add a little personality to their phone menu. —Anna Thibodeaux

Rating rivals

Southeastern Conference schools are similarly ranked academically and athletically. So it comes as no surprise that Wall Street sees the schools in the same way.

Half of the 12 SEC schools received the same AA3 bond rating from Moody’s Investors Service. That means the schools are subject to very low credit risk. Three more schools have the slightly better AA2 ranking; Moody’s uses modifiers to show if a bond is at the higher end of the category (1), in the middle (2) or at the lower end (3).

Ole Miss has the highest ranking of all—AAA—which shows the university has basically zero credit risk. LSU has the lowest rating of any SEC school, A2, showing it’s “upper medium grade” and subject to low credit risk.

Gregory Bursavich, the director of financial accounting and reporting at LSU, says the school’s low ranking is caused by Louisiana’s A2 rating. Bursavich says only 15 flagship universities have ratings equal to or higher than their home state. Moody’s has upgraded LSU’s status in the past year, saying the A2 rating has a “positive” outlook caused by robust revenue growth and the progress of the school’s flagship agenda. —T.B.

Lost, and found

It sounds like something from the mind of television and film producer J.J. Abrams. Eight prominent Louisiana residents, including Lamar Advertising CEO Kevin Reilly and Louisiana Nature Conservancy Director Keith Ouchley, were stranded on a remote Pacific island for 10 days.

The problems started when the charter plane that brought Reilly and his wife, Winifred, and Ouchley and his wife, Lila, to Palmyra Island experienced mechanical trouble. Palmyra is about 1,000 miles southeast of Hawaii, so getting a plane big enough to handle the travelers and their guides was a problem. Also included in the group were New Orleans businessmen John Koerner, the reigning king of Rex, and Tommy Coleman and their wives.

It took about five days before another plane could come to the rescue. But the stranded couples weren’t menaced by mysterious islanders or beset by any other dangers. A spokesman for the Nature Conservancy of Hawaii said the island had electricity, running water, food, phone service and air conditioning.

Sean Reilly told The Times-Picayune that his brother was “having a ball” getting a few extra days out of the office. “He’s a fly fisherman. He told me the only problem was there was a shortage of bone fishing there.” —T.B.

A ruff crowd

The Bulldog, a New Orleans tavern, will open its first location in Baton Rouge this fall in the renovated Southdowns Shopping Center. The tavern, which specializes in import, draft and microbrewed beers, is going into the old Dreamland BBQ/Dreaux’s Grill location.

“We’ve always really wanted to be in Baton Rouge, because it’s close to our core in New Orleans,” says Eddie Dyer, one of The Bulldog’s owners. “It took us a while to get in the right location.” The Bulldog has two locations in New Orleans and one in Jackson, Miss.; Dyer also operates Lager’s in Metairie.

Dyer says he’s still working on the menu for the Baton Rouge location, but the plan is to make the tavern “more food-oriented” with salads, chicken tenders, hamburgers and steaks. The bar will have touches found in the other Bulldogs, such as a patio and an extensive variety of beers. “We’re going to have at least 50 beers on tap and at least 100 different bottles,” Dyer says. —T.B.

ON THE BEAT

Hold ’em: Hollywood Casino Baton Rouge had nearly $34.8 million in revenue during the first quarter, virtually unchanged from the $34.9 million the riverboat brought in during the first three months of 2007.

Head of the class: Andy Kopplin has joined Teach for America as executive vice president of growth strategy and development. Kopplin served as chief of staff under Govs. Mike Foster and Kathleen Blanco before becoming the first director of Louisiana Recovery Authority.

School aid: BP America’s largest cash donation to LSU will allow the university’s College of Education and Advance Baton Rouge to establish two college prep schools for Baton Rouge public school students. The “autonomous” schools, slated to open in fall 2009, will combine small classroom sizes with high expectations.

Tax collector: Sales tax collections in East Baton Rouge Parish increased by almost 5% during the first two months of the year. Businesses across the parish have collected nearly $24 million in taxes, excluding vehicle sales, according to figures from the city-parish Department of Finance.

Big dealer: Salsbury’s Dodge City was one of nearly 200 Chrysler dealers to be honored by the automaker for selling more than 1,000 vehicles during 2007. The Baton Rouge dealership was named a member of the Dodge Charger Club. The only other Louisiana Chrysler dealer to receive the honor was Acadiana Dodge in Lafayette.

Coming up short: The effort to recall District 12 Metro Councilman Mickey Skyring has failed. To get a recall election, supporters needed to collect signatures from a third of the district’s 22,631 registered voters within 180 days of filing paperwork with the Secretary of State’s office on Oct. 29; the recall effort netted just under half the votes it needed.

Entrepreneurs welcome: Louisiana was tied for fourth in a survey of entrepreneurial activity by states, with 440 people starting businesses out of every 100,000 adults. The Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity found that Louisiana and Tennessee had the same rate of startups in 2007.

Eye on Baton Rouge: Baton Rouge is the subject of a two-page article in the May issue of Southern Living that praises the city for its “fresh dynamic energy”. The travel guide lists attractions that are old [Louie’s Cafe (left), Primo’s], new [Tsunami, Galatoire’s Bistro] and in between [the remodeled Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center].