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There is a big decision for all to make on Election Day, Nov. 5—and I’m not talking about the choice for president. Top billing belongs to the mayor-president of East Baton Rouge Parish, where eight candidates will appear on the ballot, though Tammy Cook has since dropped out.
Rolfe McCollister Jr. is a contributing columnist. The viewpoints expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Business Report or its staff.
Yet the race is a referendum on eight-year, two-term incumbent Sharon Weston Broome. She is well known, and I believe most folks have made up their mind about her job performance. If you are the incumbent of a city that’s declining in population and polls are showing two out of every three respondents want someone else, I suspect you don’t sleep well at night.
Broome reminds me of a football coach hired with high hopes of success. (I had high hopes for her in 2016.) But when they lose games, support erodes. Then comes the next season and the optimistic hope of a turnaround—but it never happens. The writing begins appearing on the wall. Broome tried, giving it her best shot, but has failed.
There is honor in serving, and Broome has had a long career as a public servant. But all coaches know that when the support is gone, the end is near. That time has come for Mayor-President Broome.
A clear majority of voters are looking elsewhere for a candidate. I don’t know who that person should be. But Baton Rouge: It’s time for a new leader.
BREC is ‘fool’s gold’
From July to the Election Day on Nov. 5, BREC plans to spend about $570,000 of your tax dollars in marketing to convince you that it is a golden operation—a parks department worthy of you giving it $700 million in property tax dollars. What?! This is despite the facts I shared in my last column on BREC’s financial mismanagement and its close call of a state takeover due to its 2021 audit not being filed after nearly three years.
The big question is: Do we trust BREC to manage $100 million annually and provide us with excellent parks and recreation?
With its history, I don’t.
BREC, like CATS, is a public body with appointed leaders—not elected. Both recently rolled forward their respective millage rates without a vote of the people, raising your taxes. Their pocketbooks were more important than yours. So you can only speak on their performance when they must place their tax on the ballot. Your vote is your voice. And these two taxes won’t be back around for 10 and 20 years from now.
I learned from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor, on June 6, when BREC finally filed its 2021 audit, that the organization was so far behind with its submissions that it was just 25 days away from triggering a hearing by the state’s Fiscal Review Committee. That could have resulted in the state taking over BREC’s finances. Can you believe that?
I also learned that an agency filing an audit just one year late is placed on a “noncompliance list” with the state treasurer and is prohibited from receiving state appropriations. This designation of incompetence has prevented BREC from receiving $679,000. The cash is sitting idle in a state treasurer’s account. A BREC commissioner tells me there is also “gold” from the federal government that can’t be spent due to the same audit restrictions. BREC has not met the gold standard at the state or federal level.
Does it bolster your trust in BREC’s financial management to know BREC Superintendent Corey Wilson hired his first cousin this summer to serve as the agency’s CFO?
Why does BREC have 184 parks—seven times as many as Austin, which is much larger—and many are riddled with weeds, potholes in the parking lot and locked bathrooms?
BREC will run slick TV spots telling you it is “Gold”—but it is fool’s gold. Just like our Statista’s No. 1 ranking in the U.S. for the “largest number of recreation and senior centers per 20,000.” It sounds good to beat Philadelphia, Miami, Chicago and Tampa. But we know many of those centers have no air conditioning, are in disrepair and are likely to be shuttered. Does that “honor” sound like gold to you?
But it gets worse. The state attorney general is investigating BREC as this goes to press over a possible violation of the Louisiana Open Meetings Law. I submitted a public information request to Wilson, the legal custodian of records, for any texts or emails between commissioners and BREC executives on Aug. 27-28. The following week, I got a reply from BREC’s general counsel, reviewed by Wilson, stating, “There are no emails or text messages between the commissioners and BREC’s executive staff on August 27 or 28, 2024.”
I informed them I had copies of their Aug. 27 texts, and Wilson participated in the conversation. I then sent the information to the district attorney, who forwarded it to the AG for an investigation. Mysteriously, the next week, BREC found the texts and sent them to me.
No one argues that parks and recreation are essential to our quality of life in East Baton Rouge Parish. That is not the point here. Our state and federal governments know that, too. But they are telling BREC no more money until you fix it, yet BREC expects parish voters to say yes to $700 million without accountability. Is BREC serious?
BREC doesn’t deserve your support on Nov. 5. Vote ‘no’ and tell BREC to fix it first.
Crime is the priority
East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore’s office had nearly 15,000 active cases at the start of September, according to a story in The Advocate. But the DA said he doesn’t have money to hire more prosecutors or raise the pay of staff attorneys.
“We try not to let money stand in the way of doing justice, but sometimes it does,” Moore told the newspaper, adding his office is “historically underfunded.”
The Advocate article went on to report this: “In the first half of this year, Baton Rouge saw an increase in homicides, while most of the rest of the country saw a decrease in killings.”
The fight against crime is a near-unanimous citizen priority in this parish, yet the DA’s budget is only $16 million, while BREC spends $100 million annually and is asking voters to approve $700 million in property taxes on Nov. 5.
Moore mentioned requesting a new property tax, saying his office needs an additional $4 million to $5 million in funding. Ironically, BREC just gave itself a $5 million revenue increase with its decision to roll its millage rate forward. If punishing criminals is a top priority in the fight against escalating murder rates, then voters ought to consider giving their limited tax dollars to an underfunded DA’s office rather than a mismanaged and incompetent parks department.
How I will vote
There is one state constitutional amendment and a local amendment to East Baton Rouge’s Plan of Government. There are two tax propositions for BREC. Below are my recommendations.
State Constitution
Amendment No. 1 — YES
This amendment requires that all federal revenues received by the state generated from Outer Continental Shelf alternative or renewable energy production (wind, solar, etc.) be deposited into the Coastal Protection and Restoration Fund. Currently, only revenues from oil and gas are deposited. This will expand the law to include all.
Local Issues
EBR Plan of Government Amendment — YES
This amendment includes many items, including some “cleanup” items, like changing “he” to “he or she” or moving dates to allow for more time for budget discussions.
The main changes are new city-parish positions and residency requirements. If approved, a mayoral candidate must live two years in the parish to qualify, and Metro Council candidates must reside for at least one year.
The new positions include a city-parish manager, a chief of staff, and an executive counsel to the mayor’s office. There are duties specified, and in the case of the city manager, there are qualifications. The mayor would hire the city manager, but the Metro Council must confirm them. The mayor could fire the city manager but must submit a replacement within 90 days.
Some may ask, “If we have a city manager, what will the mayor do?” With a professional city manager running the day-to-day operations, the mayor is free to sell their vision for the future, help residents and entrepreneurs understand the goals, and inspire us all to become the best version of ourselves.
The mayor would also become the No. 1 salesperson for Baton Rouge, traveling to attract new companies and talent to our community. There would also be more time to work for the Capital City at the state Capitol and in Washington.
This scenario hinges on getting top talent in these three newly created mayoral office positions. The council must hold the bar high. Teamwork makes the dream work.
Yes, we will have to pay to attract high-level talent. Let’s start by combining all the mayor’s current staff salaries and redistributing the allotments. Additional dollars may still be necessary. But city-parish government is a $1.1 billion operation with over 4,000 employees. It requires top leaders who may make more than the mayor. For the right talent, it will pay dividends.
We must have professionals in charge and take a chance with this change.
BREC Recreation and Park Proposition No. 1 — NO
I won’t support hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars being entrusted to an incompetent, mismanaged and dishonest “fools gold” parks department.
BREC Recreation and Park Proposition No. 2 — NO
I won’t support hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars being entrusted to an incompetent, mismanaged and dishonest “fools gold” parks department.
Entrepreneurs are heroes
I have always been a fan of our entrepreneurs and love celebrating their hard work, innovation and success. Small businesses employ 61.7 million Americans, 46.4% of private sector employees, and accounted for 62.7% of net jobs created from 1995 to 2021.
According to the Goldwater Institute, a 1% increase in a state’s entrepreneurship rate is associated with a 2% decline in poverty. Louisiana has the second-highest poverty rate in the U.S.
These stats emphasize the importance of entrepreneurs to the future of out city and state and quality of life. They are critical to the ecosystem and economy, so what is our community doing to support them?
There is something newly created by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs. The Alliance is a membership-based nonprofit created by Baton Rouge entrepreneurs to connect small businesses with resources, relationships and coaching to foster growth and community impact. Its goal is not only to support existing businesses but to attract back some of the brightest entrepreneurial minds who have left Baton Rouge and our universities, ensuring their talents are reinvested into the local community.
The Alliance will emphasize a holistic strategy combining expert guidance, mentorship, access to capital, and peer support. Additionally, The Alliance nurtures the next generation of philanthropists by fostering a strong culture of giving back.
I am excited about The Alliance and the possibilities. The leadership includes Stuart Gilly, Todd Barlow, Gabe Murillo and Julie Laperouse, and founding members Pete Bush, Jen Fowler, Scott Hodgin, Phillip Lafargue ll and Mawe Tayki. I applaud their vision and effort and wish them all the best. I hope other organizations, agencies and large companies will partner with them. Their success will be our success.
Visit the website for more information: GrowwiththeAlliance.com.
