He was in just his third city council work session, after taking office last New Year’s Eve.

 

As the new kid on the block, Mayor Tom Arceneaux was probably still intent on making a good impression.

 

Well, let’s just say he made an impression.

 

“I felt like I needed to wipe my nose, and when I wiped my nose, it was red instead of clear.”

 

Yes, the mayor had a nosebleed, which he said was a first.

 

“I was administered first aid (by the Fire Chief and Assistant Fire Chief). They laid me down and they did what first aid you do for a nosebleed.”

 

But there was more, as in more blood.

 

“I came back and thought it was over. Then, by golly, it started up again. So, I went back out and did the same thing.”

 

After a few doctor’s visits, the mayor was pronounced “as healthy as a horse.”

 

The “horse” still got a few stares.

 

“For a while, every time I got up — if I had to go to the bathroom or something — at a council meeting, everybody would look at me like . . . . I would say, ‘No, No, No. I’m okay.'”

 

Nosebleeds aside, Mayor Arceneaux is pleased with how things have gone his first year in office. Now 72-year old,  Arceneaux is the city’s 57th mayor, and the first Republican to win the office in 28 years, after defeating State Senator Greg Tarver in a runoff.

 

“I have enjoyed being the Mayor,” Arceneaux told the Shreveport-Bossier Journal. I think there have been a number of challenges, and I feel good about how we have handled those challenges.”

 

Meeting one of those “challenges” is at the top of Mayor Arceneaux’s list of first-year accomplishments.

 

“Probably the response to the storm on June 16th. It was totally something unexpected and massive.”

 

Winds estimated at 80 miles per hour blew through Shreveport, taking down trees, power lines, fences, and signs.

 

“We had to respond to it. We had to participate with other people in how to respond to it. It was a unique set of circumstances because it happened during the summer, and it was very, very hot. Nobody had any air conditioning. Yet we were dealing with a mess of trees, and figuring out how to get the debris out of the city, and how to get the city back to normal. We were able to do that in about two months. I’m very proud of how we handled that. I had a great team working on it.”

 

As Shreveport’s top executive, Mayor Arceneaux has made some tough decisions. That’s part of the job description. However, he could not name a specific issue he wishes he would have handled better.

 

“There are a lot of little ones . . . . I’m not sure I could say that there is a particular thing that, ‘Gee, we really blew that one.’ I don’t think I have any of those. Are there any regrets? Yes. I wish we didn’t have as many homicides as we’ve had. I don’t think there’s much we could have done about those to prevent them, and we’re doing our best to apprehend the people responsible.”

 

Being a mayor newbie, attorney Arceneaux had to learn how to be Mayor Arceneaux.

 

“I came in from 40-plus years of practicing law, and the practice of law is very reactive. Somebody comes into your office, or a transaction comes across your desk, or one of your clients gets sued or needs to sue somebody, and you respond to that. It kind of takes on a life of its own. When you’re the mayor, the requirements are to set the agenda. You don’t wait for the agenda to happen.”

 

Mayor Arceneaux can’t sign an executive order adding more hours in a day. So, he wakes up at 5 am and does some work before arriving at his Government Plaza office around 8:30 (sometimes earlier).

 

“I do some reading and preparing at home, looking at my schedule. People ask me, ‘Can you come to dinner Friday?’ I have to look at my calendar.”

 

Numbers provided to the Journal by the mayor’s office show Mayor Arceneaux has attended approximately 585 meetings, has given approximately 141 interviews (not counting scheduled press conferences and spontaneous interviews after events), and has attended approximately 345 functions.

 

“I try to be at as many events as I am invited to. I tell people, ‘I go where I’m invited. I try to do that because it makes a difference for people to see their mayor, and to know the mayor is out and about. Of course, when I’m out and about, I listen to what people say. They give me good perspectives. Sometimes they tell me about potholes, missed trash collections, traffic lights, and that kind of thing. But that’s what the job is about.”

 

And when the mayor is “out and about”, don’t be surprised (although the mayor says people are surprised) to see him without a pistol-packing protection team.

 

“I have security in two circumstances. If I feel like I need it, I have it. And if the (Police) Chief feels like I need it, I have it. Every once in awhile, there’s a circumstance where he will say, ‘If you’re going here, I want somebody to go with you.'”

 

Soon after he won the runoff election, Mayor Arceneaux said he planned on being a two-term mayor. Now that he’s a year in, the mayor’s desire hasn’t changed.

 

“I feel like the course we’re on, the financial course that we’re on, some of the things I would like to see happen are going to take more than four years. So, yes, I am still very much interested, and still planning on running for re-election.”

 

Contact Tony at SBJTonyT@gmail.com