Cheatham’s out as Bossier City CAO candidate

BOSSIER CITY, La. (KSLA) — Shane Cheatham says the prospects of him becoming Bossier City Mayor Tommy Chandler’s CAO are nil.

In a Facebook post the night of Wednesday, Sept. 1, the former Bossier City councilman details a lunchtime visit with Chandler during which “..the Mayor told me that he doesn’t have the votes to get me confirmed as the city’s CAO, and he doesn’t see that changing.

“He apologized for putting me in this position. I explained that he was not at fault for this.”

Cheatham’s 12-paragraph post also goes into detail about how the mayor reportedly has been advised to “distance yourself from Cheatham” and how all this allegedly revolves around the next mayoral election in 2025.

Chandler still is within the first year of his first term.

In a phone call late Wednesday night, Cheatham told KSLA News 12′s Doug Warner that he believes the majority of council members are purposely obstructing any progress as a power play to ensure that Chandler’s administration is not successful. He went on to say some council members believe he’s not qualified for the job, however, he noted the city’s charted does not list qualifications for the CAO position, educational or otherwise. Cheatham told KSLA’s Doug Warner that Councilman David Montgomery offered him a job as the city’s special project coordinator, but only if he would kill the ongoing recall push that’s underway against Council President Don Williams.

To date, none of Mayor Chandler’s appointments for CAO, city engineer, or public works director have been approved by the council.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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