Freddie O’Connell confirmed several staff updates Friday morning, capping a busy first week for the city’s new mayor.
Nearly all of previous Mayor John Cooper’s top advisers will turn over, with the exception of Deputy Mayor Sam Wilcox. O’Connell will replace finance director Kelly Flannery while retaining many top department heads.
After his landslide win in the mayoral runoff just two weeks ago, O’Connell has been working on a rapid transition to the mayor’s office, which includes assembling a large team to manage his ambitious agenda focused on transit and housing.
Kendra Abkowitz stays on as sustainability chief, a role she’s held since 2021. Ben Eagles, a key Cooper adviser, is likely out, while Wilcox stays on to work on special projects alongside new chief development officer Bob Mendes. On Thursday, O’Connell told the Scene that he will delegate several ongoing projects, like the city’s development of the East Bank and negotiations around the Global Mall in Antioch, to Mendes and Wilcox.
Fabian Bedne will seek other opportunities after wrapping up this year’s participatory budgeting process, O’Connell told reporters. Formerly a Metro councilmember, Bedne worked in various roles in the Cooper administration. Deputy Mayor Brenda Haywood and legislative director Mike Jameson are both out, a decision they made pre-transition, according to O’Connell. Jameson was Cooper’s primary council liaison. Ginger Hausser, tasked with state and federal relations under Cooper, is “probably not staying,” according to O’Connell. It’s unlikely that Tom Jurkovich, who headed board and commission nominations for Cooper, will remain in that role, says the new mayor.
The mayor’s office also implied it would lose LaTanya Channel, Cooper’s director of economic growth and small business development, though O’Connell did not confirm her future directly.
“You probably heard me talk about the Office of Opportunity model,” O’Connell said in response to a question about Channel. “I’m expecting we will build that from scratch.”
The transition leaves O’Connell with several major open positions and at least two major departments to stand up: the Office of Housing and Homelessness and an Office of Opportunity, O’Connell’s answer to economic development. Mendes and interim communications director Katy Varney are O'Connell's two major new picks so far. He confirmed earlier this week that he would keep legal director Wally Dietz and chief of operations and performance Kristin Wilson.
