Mayor-Elect Peter Cammarano has vowed to be a walking mayor. He has already started walking from his home every day to his City Hall transition office after he drops his daughter off at day care at 14th Street and Sinatra Drive.
“It’s a walkable city, and it’s important to get out into the community and be accessible,” he said last week.
“There’s going to be a work ethic from me and other members of this administration.”—Peter Cammarano
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Setting the pace
Cammarano said putting feet to pavement isn’t the only change to expect.
“I was at the office on Friday until 6:30, right?” he said, checking with a staff member. “And in on Saturday.”
“There’s going to be a work ethic from me and other members of this administration,” he added. So far, his administration consists of 79 unpaid transition team members advising seven committees.
Michael Novak, a local businessman, council candidate on Cammarano’s ticket, and Zoning Board member, is the chairman of the mayoral transition team.
Novak said in a press release, “This team, via the work of the committees, will focus on seamlessly transitioning the power of the administration, stressing the importance of transparency and public service every step of the way.”
Teaming up
The seven transition committees are as follows: operations, policy, liabilities, City Council relations, communications, community outreach, and economic development. The team includes allies Assemblyman Ruben Ramos Jr., Angel Alicea, Frances Rhodes-Kearns, and Perry Belfiore.
There are also campaign stalwarts Gary Iaccobacci, Catherine Hughes, Michael Goldberg, David Smith, Michael Stefano, and Jason Maurer.
Other civic leaders are also involved, like Frank Raia, Hank Forrest, Carmelo Garcia, Moe DeGennaro, Scott Delea, and Ines Garcia-Keim.
Tony Soares, a staunch supporter of Cammarano’s mayoral rival Councilwoman Dawn Zimmer, has also joined the interim brain trust, as have other reform-minded individuals like Sara Stojkovic and Ed Mecka.
These committees are meeting to address issues the new administration will face, as well as helping to shape the agenda that Team Cammarano will champion once in office.
The mayor-elect is opening the doors of government, but he made it clear last week that once all the opinions have been heard, he will make the final call on matters and he expects his team to administer his decisions.
New techniques
The new mayor hopes to communicate with people on the street, but also in some ways that past mayors couldn’t or wouldn’t.
“The whole communications apparatus needs to be updated,” he said.
So he’ll Twitter. Twitter is a free web service that allows users to follow each other with one-line updates.
“That was a tool we employed late in the campaign, and we were a little surprised it was such a success,” he said.
The city recently created its own Twitter feed, and Cammarano said he will keep that feed as well as his own open while in office.
The new mayor will use the city website more efficiently, and employ newspapers, snail mail, mass e-mails, his Facebook page, and even YouTube videos to stay current with his constituency.
Under new direction
Cammarano can appoint directors to the six city departments, although Director of Finance Nick Trasente is slated to stay in his position.
According to the new mayor, he, Novak, and members of the transition team are interviewing candidates for the positions and will announce their decisions as soon as possible.
The nine-member City Council must vote to confirm the appointments, although it is assumed that Fiscal Monitor Judy Tripodi could overrule any vote since the measures are done by resolution.
Sources have confirmed that John Pope, the current director of Health and Human Services, will be offered a position as director of Environmental Services.
Current Director of Environmental Services Jim Ronga will be offered a deputy position, while outgoing City Council member and math teacher Terry LaBruno will offered Pope’s former position.
Sources also confirmed that Cammarano’s running mate, Union City police detective and former Housing Authority chairman Angel Alicea, will be offered the Director of Public Safety position.
That position was reestablished recently to have an administrative leader of the police and fire departments, especially since former Police Chief Carmen LaBruno and Fire Chief John Casessa have retired and a search for new chiefs has been underway.
Since Anthony Falco was recently appointed police chief and Richard Blohm will soon become the new fire chief, some people assumed the position of public safety director would no longer be needed. But Cammarano said it is imperative to have an administrative head for the forces. He said his administration will also try to incorporate the Office of Emergency Management under the purview of the director.
Sources have also pegged some highly-qualified individuals for the director of Community Development and for corporation counsel (the City Council’s attorney). Current Counsel Steven Kleinman will most likely bridge a transition before resigning his position to a new attorney.
The most important jobs
The business administrator position, which Cammarano called “the most important position in the government,” will be filled after Judy Tripodi, the de facto BA and state fiscal monitor, ends her one-year term in September. Cammarano said his administration will file legal proceedings to end state intervention at that time.
Also important is the new mayor’s desire for a chief of staff. Cammarano said the previous mayor was at a “disadvantage” by not appointing someone to the position.
The city has a special job title of “confidential aide” usually used for the chief of staff. Outgoing Mayor David Roberts used the position to appoint Sandra Ramos as the constituent services officer.
Joe Garcia, a young lawyer and son of police Captain Edelmiro “Ed” Garcia, is being sought for the job, according to sources close to the transition team.
Timothy J. Carroll may be reached at tcarroll@hudsonreporter.com.