As mayor-elect A C Wharton described it to us in an interview Friday afternoon, his transition team will help focus on his top priorities and guide the strategy for making them come to fruition. He has tapped County Commissioner Mike Carpenter and Methodist/LeBonheur executive Cato Johnson to lead the team, which will be announced by the Wharton campaign apparatus on Facebook later today.
"In the longterm it's helping shape the vision and in the short-term helping identify 'quick wins,' particularly in areas where city and county can work together to be more efficient and less costly," Wharton said. "Thirdly, a talent resource helping me find individuals who share my vision."
Wharton has identified what he calls "subject-matter areas" in which members of the transition team will have expertise. They are:
1. Public safety
2. Government efficiency/trust
3. Jobs/economic development/talent development and retention
Of the transition team's role, Wharton said: "I intend to use them to make sure we stay on track. We want to shape up the first 90 days, that will be a part of it, what can I accomplish the first 90 days. That's part of the 'quick win' process. I would hope most of their meetings will have been accomplished by the first 90 days."
In a story we ran Saturday, Wharton said this of Carpenter: "Courage, just flat out courage. He is young, he is innovative ... he stands on principle even at the risk of alienating friends." He praised Johnson's long list of civic involvement and his company's record of recruiting and retaining top young talent, including minorities.
Wharton, who expects to resign as county mayor and take the oath as city mayor on Oct. 26, emphasized that the members of the transition team are being drafted for their expertise, not partisan affiliations, not because they "put up yard signs or had a fundraiser."
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