Now that Memphis Mayor Elect A C Wharton has announced his 13-member transition team, the team's next task is to ensure Wharton's smooth and productive move across the street.
Enter Shelby County Commissioner Mike Carpenter.
He is one of the transition team's co-chairs, along with Methodist Healthcare vice president Cato Johnson, and his main focus in the next 90 days will be to see that the transition team does its job.
Specifically, that means taking the "mayor's vision," breaking it down into workable pieces, assigning team members research and data-gathering responsibilities and making recommendations to the mayor.
"Our job is just to lay the initial groundwork so when the mayor says go, we begin to implement his vision almost immediately," Carpenter said.
He added that the mayor's three top priority areas are public safety, economic development and transparency in government.
"Our job is to really spend our energy on addressing those issues and seeing what else is needed," Carpenter said, "whether it be personnel, resources or innovation. And making sure we help him map out a plan so there's little lag time and learning curve for him or his staff when he takes office."
Wharton could take office as early as next Monday, depending on when the County Commission accepts his resignation. The transition team met last week and will meet for a second time on Friday. The meeting isn't open to the public, but Carpenter said the public would be briefed regularly.
Carpenter said so far the team hasn't discussed nominations for Wharton's chief administrative officer, but the mayor has asked for a list of suggestions.
They also haven't had a discussion about whether Wharton will keep Memphis police director Larry Godwin.
According to Carpenter, Wharton has said he would look at every position individually and pick the best person for the job "whether it's someone in the job or someone new."
And Carpenter stressed the hardest part about this transition is its short time-frame. When Wharton asked him to chair the team, Carpenter said his mind started working immediately in terms of how to organize the group so "we can deliver the things he wants us to deliver."
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