By Eileen Buckley
Buffalo, NY – A mayoral transition team is now in place. On Monday, Buffalo Mayor-elect Byron Brown named the team that will help hire members of his new administration.
The transition team is a diverse group of local representatives from the community, labor, education and the private sector. Attorney Arnold Gardner will serve as chair and Buffalo State College President Muriel Howard, will be vice chair. Other members include Rev. Darius Pridgen, Robert Gioia and the president of Western New York Public Broadcasting, Don Boswell.
The team will oversee the review and hiring of 16 top jobs. That includes commissioners and the Corporation Counsel. But Brown has indicated that at least one current commissioner will apparently be spared -- Human Resources Commissioner Leonard Matrese. He has a contract with the city through November 2008.
"We don't necessarily anticipate interviewing for that positionm" Brown said. "But we will be reviewing that position as well as reviewing every commissionership and every department."
Brown says a number of current employees have reapplied for their jobs. Local government has been under a great deal of public scrutiny for patronage. But Brown says he has not made any promises for commissioner jobs.
"No. Absolutely not," Brown said. "As we have discussed before, we have invited some of the existing commissioners to reapply, but have made no commitments to anyone that they have a guaranteed job in this administration. We have not done that in the past and certainly won't do that in the future."
So far, Brown has received more than 250 resumes. The search will go national with the assistance of the US Conference of Mayors. All resumes must be submitted by Friday, December 2nd. The team expects to fill the top jobs by January 1st. Brown says the mission is to tap the best and brightest and is promising a diverse administration.