Reed's competitors to help choose police chief, other posts

By Eric Stirgus

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Talk about a team of rivals.

Three candidates who unsuccessfully ran for Atlanta mayor last year have joined forces with the winner, Kasim Reed, to help him pick a police chief and a fire rescue chief.

Reed announced Monday that former City Councilwoman Mary Norwood, who lost the Dec. 1 runoff by 714 votes out of about 83,000 ballots cast, will serve on the fire rescue chief search committee. Atlantans Together Against Crime founder Kyle Keyser, who finished a distant fifth among the six candidates in Nov. 3 general election, will serve on the police chief search committee.

Former Atlanta City Council President Lisa Borders, who finished third in the general election, is co-chair of an 18-member transition team that will recommend three to five candidates for those two jobs. The team is expected to make those recommendations by the end of April. Reed is expected to announce his picks in early May.

Reed said he wanted a diverse group of people on his transition team and search committees, including those who battled him for the job.

"It's easier to look through a windshield than a rear view mirror," Reed told reporters, suggesting it's easier to focus on the future than the past.

Transition co-chair Lawrence Ashe said the search committees will conduct the initial research of possible candidates and reach out to others for suggestions of qualifications they want in a police chief and a fire rescue chief. Borders said the Georgia Bureau of Investigation will perform background searches of potential finalists.

Acting police chief George N. Turner and acting fire rescue chief Joel G. Baker will be allowed to compete for those jobs, Reed said. Professional Association of City Employees leader Gina Pagnotta said Monday she hopes to encourage Reed to hire Baker.

"(Baker) is stern, but he's fair," she told the AJC.

The transition team and search committee members will not be paid for their work, Borders said. Similar search committees will be set up to help choose a chief financial officer, city attorney and a Public Works commissioner, she said.