Team named for Fresno mayor transition

Mayor-elect Swearengin wants to hear voices from across city for ideas.

Published online on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2008

Mayor-elect Ashley Swearengin introduced what she called her dream team Monday, a nine-member panel that will help her transition into City Hall over the next six weeks.

Swearengin said the team formalizes an effort that began the day she was elected to replace Mayor Alan Autry. She will be sworn in Jan. 6.

"I'm very grateful for their involvement. Each member of the team has a different story, and they are independent people who can give me a clear-eyed view of what's going on at City Hall," Swearengin said.

Swearengin said the group will help her set policy priorities, develop strategic plans and assemble a Community Advisory Panel that will include representatives of every segment of Fresno's population.

"We're going to focus on jobs, the economy and the budget, and they will help roll out initiatives to achieve those goals," Swearengin said.

Autry has said he and his staff members will aid Swearengin's transition, and he has provided her with an office at City Hall. Members of her transition team will meet with Autry's staffers and with city employees to learn about continuing issues that Swearengin will inherit in January and ensure that the change of leadership goes smoothly.

The team members are: James E. Aldredge, Lee Ayres, Tracewell B. Hanrahan, Tou N. Herr, Tim Rios, David Schecter, Ray Steele Jr., Kristine Walter and Allysunn Williams.

Six of the nine have ties to California State University, Fresno, where Swearengin worked in several roles in recent years.

Aldredge, a former professor at Fresno State and Ayres, a business owner, are former city managers.

Hanrahan and Herr bring education experience to the team. Hanrahan is the executive officer for school leadership at Fresno Unified School District, and Herr leads the Parent Services Center for the Fresno County Office of Education.

Rios is a senior vice president for Wells Fargo. Walter is a former telecommunications executive and served as executive director of the literacy project, ReadFresno. Williams serves as associate executive director of Fresno County Economic Opportunities Commission.

The transition team is co-chaired by Schecter, a political science professor at Fresno State and Steele, former publisher of The Fresno Bee.

Ayres, who served as city manager for three cities, including Sunnyvale, said being part of the the transition team would be a discovery process.

"None of us have done this before. But I've worked with Mayor Autry, and with the city manager. Now we'll look at what's in the pipeline and help integrate those efforts and Ashley's goals," Ayres said.

Walter, who will lead the effort to form the Community Advisory Panel, said she's optimistic that she can meet Swearengin's requirement of a group that represents everyone in the city.

"We're going to bring together groups of people that don't normally have a voice or a seat at the table. And it's going to be an active panel, not a group that meets once or twice and gets a certificate," Walter said.