By Eileen Buckley
Buffalo, NY – Mayor Byron Brown has announced the hiring of a second deputy mayor and she comes all the way from California.
At a City Hall news conference Friday morning, Brown introduced Angela Joyner as his new deputy mayor of operations. She has served in several city fiscal and management positions in Oakland, California. Joyner was one of two finalists recommended for the job by Brown's transition team.
Joyner says she doesn't look at this new position as a challenge but an opportunity. She is a native of Virginia and says she fell in love with Buffalo when she stepped off the plane for her interview.
Joyner will be responsible for the oversight of Buffalo's new CitiStat program. Brown says CitiStat will help identify excessive overtime, chronic absenteeism and lateness as well as monitoring the performance of every city department and employees. But Joyner told reporters she wants employees to understand they are valued.
"Because of the fiscal constraints, they (employees) feel a little under siege, because things aren't working well and they can't get pay raises," Joyner said. "We want them to know that despite those things, we value them."
Mayor Brown says CitiStat will hold departments accountable.
"I plan on enforcing this management tool, and I plan on making sure that this is an efficient, well run government," Brown said. "If managers are not getting the job done, and that is identified through this Citi-Stat process, they will be terminated, and we will bring in someone who will be able to get the job done."
Brown says CitiStat saved the city of Baltimore over $100 million.