The first 100 days of the Ellis administration have been sprinkled with signs of hope but riddled with confrontations between a mayor bent on showing the council that he has the big guns and a well-dug-in council majority bent on showing him that they have the bullets.
To put it mildly, the administration has been adversarial. Neither the mayor nor the council’s black majority seems willing to give an inch regarding Southside issues or respect.
Ironically, the Southside council members have voted unanimously in favor of actions that would advance the city in general, especially Downtown and North Monroe improvements, but the clash is always over the mayor’s resistance to liberally support initiatives to help South Monroe.
In response, the council has been repealing ordinances the mayor wants, and he has been vetoing them. They’ve turned down some of his appointments for department heads and other symbolic gestures. The mayor’s refusal to meet regularly with them and negotiate changes deemed important to South Monroe is at the root of it all.
It hasn’t been all bad. For the first time, Mayor Ellis came to an NAACP function, and he finally recognized the importance of the Black Chamber of Commerce. Unlike his first term, he has even shown his face at a few Black church activities. Moreover, his success in securing nearly $16 million for downtown projects, the Monroe airport, and Winnsboro Road sidewalks showcases his ability to push forward key initiatives.
On the other side of the aisle, the Southside Bloc has demonstrated remarkable cohesion, voting together consistently as a unit and leveraging their majority to influence city policy. Their restraint in using their agenda-setting power is commendable, as is their support for initiatives benefiting the entire city. The bloc’s moves to challenge unilateral charter changes and automatic utility rate increases reflect a commitment to democratic processes and fiscal responsibility.
As a general rule, the Southside Majority, has kept its promise to the electorate in its first 100 days.
How long their adversarial stance will continue will rely heavily on the mayor’s willingness to work with them to find common ground on issues that move the city forward without leaving South Monroe behind. While a system of checks and balances is crucial, an adversarial stance risks undermining the very progress our city needs.
The council majority, the “Brown Bombers” has not used its ability to pull the plug on the mayor’s future plans through its control of the agenda. They claim they are not opposed to progress, but they want African-Americans and South Monroe to be included.
Pulling the the plug on the agenda, is a last resort, which many feel is the only way to end the mayor’s constant vetoes of items important to South Monroe. Repeated veteos or the same items is a symptom that the mayor has not mastered the “Art of the Deal.”
The first 100 days have shown glimmers of hope. The funding agreement for the Black Chamber of Commerce, supported by both the mayor and council, demonstrates that common ground can be found. The revival of the SEDD board and the renewed discussions about the possibility of TIF support for the district are positive steps toward addressing long-standing inequities.
However, each time the mayor vetoes a council action, he waves a red flag in front of an angry bull.
An Agenda shut down, for as long as it takes, looms in the immediate future, unless one of the white council members decides to be the adult in the room and end the stand off by voting with South Monroe to override the mayor’s repeated veto of the majority’s decision.
The first 100 days have set the stage; now it’s time for our leaders to show true statesmanship and move beyond division to deliver the governance our city deserves.
