BREAKING NEWS: The Shreveport MPC Executive Director Has Resigned

KEEL News has obtained the resignation letter of Shreveport Metropolitan Planning Commission Executive Director Mark Sweeney. Two MPC Board Members have verified the resignation to KEEL as well.

The letter reads:

"First of all, I want to express my gratitude to MPC Board for your willingness to renegotiate my employment agreement per the public action taken at last Monday’s Special Board Meeting.  Your continued faith and support in me over the past four years, as your Executive Director, is greatly appreciated.  However, I will not be pursuing this gracious proposal as I have been offered and have accepted the Executive Director position with a Regional Planning Agency in another state.  This opportunity represents a “once in a lifetime” career and financial prospect for me that I cannot refuse.

The move comes after the MPC Board voted 5-4 to terminate Sweeney's contract last week. At the same time, the board voted to renegotiate Sweeney's contract. By default, Sweeney became an "at will" employee right away.

Last week, MPC Commission member Ronnie Remedies joined KEEL News to discuss the votes.

While all of this is going on, there are still conversations inside the City of Shreveport to completely disband the Metropolitan Planning Commission completely. Shreveport City Councilman James Flurry recently joined KEEL News to talk about the idea of getting rid of the MPC, and how it could help the city, in his opinion:

Councilman Flurry spoke openly about changing the MPC, but pointed out that the City doesn't have the jurisdiction to control what happens inside the MPC, even though they have to cover a lot of the MPC costs.