November Win Assured, Henry Eyes Changes to City Comptroller’s Office

Baltimore City Councilman Bill Henry (D), running unopposed for the Baltimore City comptroller’s job in the  general election, is already preparing to take office. Henry on Wednesday announced two prospective hires and the formation of a transition team.

Henry said Erika McClammy would be the city’s deputy comptroller and tapped Celeste Amato to be his chief of staff.

Baltimore City Councilman Bill Henry (D)

McClammy, an attorney, has more than 20 years in local government and community development. She currently works for the Baltimore City Health Department, and previously managed Baltimore’s Human Services division, which focuses on fighting the effects of poverty in neighborhoods throughout the city.

“I’ve been blessed to know Erika nearly her whole career,” Henry said in a statement. “She is extremely dedicated to fairness, efficiency, and public service.”

Amato will be leaving her position as president at the Maryland Philanthropy Network, where she has worked for eight years. Previously she spent almost two decades in city government doing economic development and communications work.

“Her expertise will be key to the office’s greater transparency and much-needed modernization,” Henry said.

Henry also announced that his transition team would begin meeting this month and would conclude its work with a report and final set of recommendations in January 2021. The transition team will be led by state Sen. Mary L. Washington (D-Baltimore City) and Brad Rogers, executive director of the South Baltimore Gateway Partnership, a community organization.

Six transition team workgroups will focus on the office’s existing departments as well as priorities that Henry championed on the campaign trail:

• The Audits Workgroup will be chaired by Justin Williams, a partner at Rosenberg Martin Greenberg, LLP, a business law firm.
• The Real Estate Workgroup will be chaired by Jim French, principal of French Development, LLC.
• The Communications Services Workgroup will be chaired by Ricarra Jones, political director of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East.
• The Ethics & Transparency Workgroup will be chaired by Dr. Shanaysha Sauls, president and CEO of the Baltimore Community Foundation.
• The Modernization & Restructuring Workgroup will be chaired by Jess Gartner, CEO and founder of Allovue, a Baltimore tech company.
• The Procurement & Economic Opportunity Workgroup will be chaired by Kylie Patterson, director of Economic Inclusion at Johns Hopkins University.

Staffing for the transition team effort will be provided by the  Baltimore-based public affairs firm, Tidemore, which also did campaign work for Henry. In a statement, Henry said the transition team’s final report will lay out a plan to promote transparency, accountability and government oversight in the comptroller’s office.

Henry, who was elected to the Baltimore City Council in 2007, ousted six-term Comptroller Joan Pratt in June’s Democratic primary. He faces no opposition in the general election.

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