Shreveport Council Rescinds Pay Raises, But Votes Down Investigation

SHREVEPORT, LA - The Shreveport City Council held a brief special meeting to take action on Council Chairman James Greens' actions giving some council employees pay raises earlier this summer.

Only four council members attended the meeting. Green, Tabatha Taylor and Alan Jackson did not show up for the specially called meeting.

There were only two items were on the agenda. One was a resolution to rescind the pay raises signed off on by Green back on June 27th. That measure passed 4-0.

Things got a little testy when it was time to vote on the 2nd item on the agenda. There was a proposal to call for an independent investigation to find our what happened and whether or not there was any wrong doing on the part of Green in taking this action.

Councilwoman Ursula Bowman did not support that measure. She said "we already know what happened. I think we would do better if we would get our city attorney to help us to set up rules and regulations so things like this won't happen in the future."   Councilman Gary Brooks also voted against calling for an investigation.

That meant the measure failed on a 2-2 vote. Councilmen Grayson Boucher and Jim Taliaferro voted for an investigation.

KEEL News has asked if the money given to the employees will be paid back to the city. During a news conference on Tuesday, Green said the money from the raises would be paid back incrementally over the next few months. We have been told that the resolution passed by the council also calls for the money to be paid back.