Mayor Cohen.com

This afternoon, in my first press conference as Mayor-Elect, I was very pleased to announce the appointment of my transition team (Click HERE to watch the video.)  This “Idea Team” will serve a critical role for the incoming council and administration.  We will look to it to help identify issues and recommend actions to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of city government.

The clear theme of the team is bipartisanship.  It does not matter to me if an idea is “Democratic” or “Republican.”   What matters is if the idea makes sense.  We are facing very challenging times, but I am confident that we can rise to meet those challenges if we pull together as one community.

I am thrilled that Zina Pierre and Greg Stiverson have volunteered to co-chair the team. Zina and Greg  were fellow candidates for office during the recent election (Zina was a Democratic candidate for Mayor and Greg was a Republican candidate for Ward Six Alderman.)

I am also thrilled that my two fellow General Election candidates for mayor, Dave Cordle and Chris Fox, both enthusiastically offered to serve.  I hope that their example sends a clear message that while we need to honor and respect our differences, we also need to set our differences aside in order seek common ground.

The Idea Team has eight committees. Each of the eight incoming alderpersons will serve in an honorary capacity on one of the committees.  The committees are: Budget & Finance, Economic Development, Environment, Government Structure & Permitting, Housing & Community Services, Market House & City Dock, Public Safety, and Transportation & Parking.

The Idea Team is charged with presenting its report and recommendations to the new Mayor and City Council by January 11, 2010.

Idea Team Roster

The Co-Chairs and the chairs and members of each committee listed below:

Co-Chair Greg Stiverson is the former president of Envisioning Annapolis Foundation, president and CEO of Historic Annapolis Foundation, and current president of the Kunta-Kinte-Alex Haley Foundation.

Co-Chair Zina Pierre is the founding President and CEO of the Washington Linkage Group, Inc., a full service governmental relations and strategic consulting firm specializing in lobbying, advocacy, public relations, grant writing and international trade.

Budget & Finance
Chair: Maurice Tose founded TeleCommunication Systems (TCS) in 1987 and has served as Chairman of the Board, President and CEO since then. Prior to founding TCS, Mr. Tosé was the Director of Department of Defense Programs for Techmatics, Inc.
Committee Members:
Alderwoman Classie Hoyle
Tom Brandt
Debbie Gosselin
Shelly Lamar
Jennifer Monteith
Reza Jafari
Chris Ledoux
Carl Snowden
Kathie Sulick

Economic Development
Chair: Chuck Walsh is a principal in Consensus Partners, which owns commercial real estate within the city. He also established Artwalk, a non-profit charitable corporation, which promotes and implements large scale public art throughout the Annapolis area.
Committee Members:
Alderman Fred Paone
Carole Alexander
Sarian Bouma
Gloria Brown
Bob Burdon
Jan Cort
Connie DelSignore
Dick Franyo
Jenelle Murph
J. Jeremy Parks
Jessica Jordan Paret
John Sherwood
Sarah Wilkerson

Environment
Chair: Chris Trumbauer has been the West/Rhode Riverkeeper since July 2008.  For nine years, he was a biologist for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, where he coordinated a state-wide water quality monitoring program.
Committee Members:
Alderwoman Sheila Finlayson
Joel Dunn
Ted Gattino
Corinne Irwin
Karen Jennings
Zora Lathan
Suzanne Pogell
Kincey Potter
David Prosten
Kurt Riegel
Rob Schnabel

Government Structure & Permitting
Chair: Doug Smith is the President of the Ward One Resident’s Association and Treasurer of the Downtown Annapolis Partnership.  He has served as co-chair of Annapolitans for a Better Community and helped lead the recent petition drives for a Council-Manager form of government and for a Tax Cap.
Committee Members:
Alderman Ross Arnett
Marcellous Butler
Rhonda Pindell Charles, Esq.
Cliff Dean
Michael Fox
Mark Garrity
Vicki Lathom
Vince Leggett
Bob Libson
Michael Pachler
Molly Smith
Dinny White

Housing & Community Services
Chair: Sharon Brown has worked in the affordable housing field for 20 years in a variety of positions including as property manager, housing choice voucher specialist and counselor.  She has worked for both the Housing Authority of the City of Annapolis as well as the Housing Commission of Anne Arundel County (HCAAC).
Committee Members:
Alderman Kenny Kirby
Cynthia Carter
Maria Casasco
Rev. Jerry Colbert
Deneice Fisher
Armando Gonzalez
Melinda Hamilton
Devin Heritage
Kate Rollason
Rock Toews

Market House & City Dock
Chair: Judd Legum resides in Ward One and is an attorney in private practice in the city. Previously, Judd was the Research Director for the Center for American Progress, a leading public policy think tank in Washington, DC. He also served as Research Director for Hillary Clinton during her presidential campaign.
Committee Members:
Alderman Dick Israel
Sandy Cohen
Chris Fox
Allan James
Michael Jackson
John “Bumper” Moyer
Jim Nolan
Pearse O’Doherty
Craig Purcell
Cathy Schultz
Craig Sewell

Public Safety
Chair: Alderman Dave Cordle has chaired the City Council’s standing committee on Public Safety for the past eight years.  Dave is the Chief Investigator of the Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney’s Office, where he began work in 1980. Dave is also the coordinator of the Witness Security Program which he created in 1995.
Committee Members:
Alderman Mat Silverman
Jennifer Adams
Antonio Brown
Bill Donoho
Lee Finney
Rev. Henry Green
Debbie Johnson
Jay Martin
Vic Pascoe
George Phelps, Jr.
David Stokes

Transportation & Parking
Chair: Barbara Rasin Price was a founder and deputy director of the Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA), a national non-profit Washington-based organization that advocates for improved public transportation services and provides technical assistance and training to transportation providers, states and local communities.
Committee Members:
Alderman Ian Pfeiffer
Paul Foer
Bill Herald
Dave Humphreys
John Giannetti
Carl Larkin
Martha Mitchell
Shelley Row
Jerry South
Chance Walgran
Jim Wildey

[Roster updated Nov. 12, 2009]