The upcoming election marks an inflection point where residents of this city will be able to stand up and demand better delivery of fundamental services.
The basics of our government are broken. There’s a lack of cohesion, collaboration, and correct procedure. And if we fail to fix our unstable foundation, there’s no telling how bad it could get.
People are already exiting in droves; existing businesses are struggling to stay open, while potential businesses have serious concerns about coming here; we need leaders who can look at the reality for what it is and get their hands dirty making the right moves to turn the ship around.
As we sprint toward Oct 11th, we must stand firm in demanding that our city function properly. Sometimes we get a glimpse of that, the Super Bowl being the most oft-cited example of our government behaving like it ought to.
But that’s the exception, not the rule. Just look at the numbers: 73% of New Orleaneans are dissatisfied with the delivery of basic city services.
Today, I continued my NOLA City Services Coalition Show, where I break down our city’s issues with a panel of experts as we sift through the five major mayoral prioties.
On this episode, we covered two major issues: The need for a more efficient Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) and what’s needed to fix he flaws in the Sewerage and Water Board (S&WB).
Starting with CAO, it’s important to remember that this is not a policymaking position. The CAO governs over the 14 different city departments and prepares the operating budgets. When budgetary requirements change, it’s the CAO who goes before the city council with that request.
A major issue, though, has been the conflict and lack of communication between the mayor and the council. We’re far too accustomed to political stalemating. And when the CAO is used like a piece on a chessboard, communication freezes, and residents and businesses suffer.
Thankfully, recent changes to the home rule charter mean that this time around department heads must first be vetted by the council.
Assessor of Orleans Parish Errol Williams explains, “One change is that now, when the city hires whoever becomes mayor, each department has to be vetted before the City Council. That's an improvement because now you're going to be looking at qualifications and not just relationships to who becomes the CAO.”
Correcting a deeply flawed S&WB
A CAO further removed from toxic partisanship is, of course, essential to a well-run city. However, when you burrow further into our issues, we all understand that our individual departments are often the largest pain points for residents and businesses.
There’s no better example than the S&WB.
In a December 2024 survey conducted by the coalition, New Orleans voters showed that 80% of respondents stated the S&WB needs major changes. An additional 15% said it needs minor changes. Only 2% said no changes needed at all.
When you ask what’s wrong, you begin to realize that it's not the right question. You're better off asking, ‘What isn't wrong?’
Keep in mind, the S&WB was created by the state legislature over 100 years ago. And in large part, the influence of the state legislature is still a huge factor, and every decision and change that happens must trickle through the state legislature.
If you think this creates a jungle of red tape, you’d be spot on. And that’s a large part of why it’s become such a contentious point between residents/businesses and government.
It’s no secret that it's been this way for a long time. Orleans Constable Lambert Boissier provides a painful example of how it required connecting three city departments just to fill one pothole.
“I was on the council back in the 80s, and I talked many times about consolidating the S&WB with the Streets department because the two have to work together,” says Boissier. “I had a pothole one time. I called the Streets Department, and they came out and said they had a water leak, and they had to get S&WB. Then the S&WB said we had to call Parks and Parkways because the oak tree root was wrapped around a pipe. So I had to get all three of them together to fill one pothole.”
Since then, the state of our departments has only gotten worse.
The City Services Coalition says the answer lies in loosening the bureaucratic strictures in order to streamline the already existing works in process. What that will look like, in essence, is an entirely new system.
“The legislation requires you to go to the state to get changes,” Bossier tells me. “You've got the council, who never likes to pay us rate increases. You've got agencies looking for additional money. The mayor has that point to ease it. The government's got something to say. You got bond approval from the bond commission. It's just so many things have to be done to move forward. So we've got to clean all of that up. And as I say, in essence, that's to start all over with a new system. Getting there is going to be complicated. As you said, charter changes, legislation, and the politics of creating all of this. But the public is saying something has to happen.”
These statements just scratch the surface of what we spoke about. For a full view of these issues, I urge you to go and listen to the segment in its entirety and then read the City Services Coalition survey, which you can read here.
But again, this all begins on Oct 11th. We must not forget that. It starts with voting for competent leaders—those capable of seeing past their own immediate interests and far enough into the future to recognize that our city is in dire need of capable, relentless representatives who will go above and beyond to fix the failures of their predecessors.
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