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VoB wants to know: Who's gonna get axed in the mayor's ofc.?

BOARD  OF  ESTIMATES
APPROVES $120K FOR
‘EXECUTIVE SEARCH’

Mayor’s office mum on details
of vetting  for top appointees

UPDATE (Sept. 27):  MAYOR ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT OF CITY FINANCE DIRECTOR EDWARD J. GALLAGHER.  In an email sent out early Tuesday Mayor Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake announced that “a national search for Mr. Gallagher’s replacement will commence immediately.” Gallagher has served under six Baltimore mayors, beginning his career here as the city’s budget director during the administration of Mayor William Donald Schaefer in 1983 following government service in New York and Iowa.

The city Board of Estimates this week approved an additional $60,000 for an “executive search” for the mayor’s office but declined to reveal specifics of the proposal, leading to speculation that one or more top-level mayoral assistants may be on the chopping block.

The board previously had authorized $60K for the same purpose, doubling the total expenditure approved for vetting prospective Baltimore mayoral appointees to $120,000.

It is not unusual following an election, for top officials of government to replace existing high-level assistants, and the September 13 reelection of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is apparently no exception.

Blake was overwhelmingly returned to office by the Democratic primary — the de facto election in Baltimore City, which has seen only one Republican mayor in more than 60 years — swamping a field of five opposing candidates by obtaining well over 50 percent of the total vote.

Despite a record small turnout by city voters the incumbent Rawlings-Blake defeated State Sen. Catherine E. Pugh (D-40th); former city Planning Director Otis Rolley, who had also served as ex-Mayor Sheila Dixon’s chief of staff; Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors’ former Vice President Joseph T. “Jody” Landers 3rd; Frank M. Conaway Sr., clerk of the Baltimore City Circuit Court and a perennial mayoral candidate; and Wilton Wilson, a family nurse practitioner.

Emails to the mayor’s office over the weekend requesting details of the executive job search went unanswered.

It is not known if anyone on Rawlings-Blake’s staff has indicated their intention to leave city government or if the mayor plans to fire any of her top aides or appointees.

The Board of Estimates is comprised of the mayor, president of the City Council, the Baltimore comptroller, city solicitor, and the director of the Department of Public Works.

— VoB Staff Report