East Baton Rouge Parish voters will soon decide whether to switch from a chief administrative officer solely appointed by the mayor to a city-parish manager also approved by the Metro Council.
Currently, the mayor-president directly appoints a CAO, the No. 2 job in the parish. If voters approve the measure on Nov. 5, the replacement city manager would need to be confirmed by a majority vote of the 12 council members.
Rowdy Gaudet, the Republican council member proposing the change, says many other cities employ a manager, which he argues is more politically agnostic than the current CAO role.
Gaudet said 74% of governments with populations over 2,000 people have some sort of a city manager role.
"We do not in East Baton Rouge Parish. We have the CAO role, which is a very, very broad position that handles the management of the departments," he said.
He called the current CAO position a "catchall role," as that person handles the mayor's policy agenda, relationships and politics with Metro Council as well as some department oversight. Gaudet said the change would spell out experience and education requirements for obtaining the position.
"The thinking there is, you get someone who is solely dedicated to running and, frankly, improving the department within city-parish government," he said, adding that he believes the change would improve service to city-parish residents from all departments.
But some argue the change would weaken the authority of mayors to do the jobs voters elected them to do.
In a mayoral debate this week, both incumbent Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome and fellow Democrat Ted James argued the mayor should have the sole power in selecting what is now the CAO position.
The proposed change to the No. 2 role is the most controversial on a list of changes to the parish's plan of government. The others are largely updating language to the rules that govern parish operations.
Mayoral hopefuls urge no, others say yes
Gaudet is not alone in thinking the change to a city-parish manager role is logical and needed.
District 5 Council member Darryl Hurst, a Democrat, said this revision would provide Metro Council with further oversight and give members a chance to have a better working relationship with the administration.
"Allowing us to help make that decision of who the city manager is positions us to have someone that's willing to work with us," Hurst said. "(Candidates) will present their plan of how they can improve the city-parish before being selected."
Hurst said his support is "not about Dante Bidwell" — the fifth and current CAO under Broome's administration — and added it is also not an indictment of the mayor.
"This helps us clearly define the role, the job duties and to engage the council," Hurst said. "The only thing that allows the council to be effective is for people to answer the phone, people to respond appropriately and make sure that we have the ability to properly serve our constituents."
Two of the top mayoral candidates see things differently.
"Once you all elect me in November or December, you're going to trust me to make those decisions," Ted James said at a mayoral debate Monday at Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church. " … I'm not going to punt that responsibility onto the council, … I will hire a credentialed staff. I will hire a staff that's educated."
James said he thought the mayor chose underqualified CAOs in the past and believed that to be part of the reason for the push for a governmental change in adding a city manager.
"I do not think that the council should sign off on a city manager," Broome said, in one of the few instances she echoed her opponent.
Broome stood behind her CAO choices, and said, "At the beginning of my journey as mayor-president, we put out a national (search) for a chief administrative officer."
Educating the public
One major obstacle to getting the measure passed is an education campaign to inform voters what exactly they are voting on, Gaudet said.
As it will appear on the ballot this election, the text does not inform voters that they are voting on a measure that would add a city-parish manager position in place of a CAO, nor does it list any of the other proposed changes.
Instead, "PW Home Rule Charter Amendment — HRC Amendments — MC" will appear as the proposition's title, with text beneath only explaining that voters are voting on a slew of amendments to the Plan of Government.
District 3 councilman Rowdy Gaudet listens during a special meeting of the metro council, Wednesday, January 12, 2022, at City Hall in Baton Rouge, La.
Voters can read all of the proposed changes on the city-parish's website.
"Frankly, I'm frustrated by the language of the proposition on the ballot," Gaudet said. "In my opinion, it doesn't effectively communicate what we're asking voters to vote on."
Gaudet said he tried to see if the language could be changed, but because of election deadlines learned it was too late.
Instead, he said he has started to put together an education campaign that will include several public meetings throughout the parish to explain the proposal to voters, the dates of which will be posted to his social media.