Home | BaltimoreBrew.com
The Dripby Brew Editors4:20 pmSep 9, 20200

Bill Henry begins comptroller’s office reboot

Running unopposed, he announced prospective hires for top positions and the members of a transition team

Above: Bill Henry taps Celeste Amato and Erika McClammy to leadership roles at the Baltimore comptroller’s office. (Handout photos)

Bill Henry has disclosed an ambitious remake of Baltimore’s troubled comptroller’s office, following his June primary victory over six-term incumbent Joan M. Pratt.

The 4th District councilman announced two prospective hires – attorney Erika M. McClammy as deputy comptroller and M. Celeste Amato as chief of staff – as well as a transition team with work groups focusing on audits, ethics, modernization and more.

“My campaign focused on a positive message and a substantive policy platform, and voters rewarded us for it,” Henry said in a statement released today.

Chairing the transition team will be another local politician who toppled an entrenched incumbent, State Senator Mary Washington, who defeated Joan Carter Conway in 2018.

Washington said serving as co-chair to reshape a city office “embroiled in corruption and disorganization for years is an honor.”

Two Top Staffers

Both of the women Henry identified to help lead the department have been in and out of city government for years.

McClammy takes on the role of deputy comptroller previously held by Bernice H. “Harriette” Taylor for the last 24 years. Taylor has been at the center of a controversy that flared after she officially retired in April.

The Brew disclosed last month that Taylor had been coming to City Hall to collect and shred documents at her former office after she learned that the U.S. Department of Labor was pursuing an investigation of hours and wages violations under Pratt.

Acting City Solicitor Dana Moore intervened to stop the shredding, but City Hall officials have been closed-mouthed about how Taylor got into the building and what documents may have been destroyed.

McClammy is currently the director of client and legal services at the city health department. She has previously worked for Bon Secours Health Systems and at the city housing department during the O’Malley administration.

During the run-up to the primary, she served as treasurer for Odette Ramos’ successful 14th District City Council campaign.

Since 2012, Amato has been president of the Association of Baltimore Area Grantmakers, which assists funders and nonprofits and promotes the role of philanthropy.

Coming out of a background in real estate, Amato began government work in 1996 at the Baltimore Development Corporation, followed by a position for Mayor Sheila Dixon directing the Cleaner Greener Initiative.

She also handled media for the Department of Public Works.

Transition Team

Henry also released the names of transition team work group chairs:

• Audits – Justin Williams, a partner at Rosenberg Martin Greenberg.

• Real Estate – Jim French, principal of French Development.

• Communications Services – Ricarra Jones, political director of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East.

• Ethics & Transparency – Shanaysha Sauls, president and CEO of Baltimore Community Foundation.

• Modernization & Restructuring – Jess Gartner, founder and CEO of Allovue.

• Procurement & Economic Opportunity – Kylie Patterson, director of economic inclusion at Johns Hopkins University.

Most Popular