The mayor-elect made the announcements during a Friday morning news conference at City Hall.

Restructuring city government was a key campaign pledge for Mayor-elect Joe Schember.

On Friday, before a packed house in the Bagnoni Council Chambers at Erie City Hall, Schember unveiled the team that will move his vision and initiatives forward — a group that includes Erie County government’s former planning director and a former supervisor of Erie police detectives as the city's new police chief.

Schember, who will be sworn in on Jan. 2, said his staff choices reflect a desire to follow through on several campaign pledges, including an examination of the structure of the city's Department of Economic and Community Development and creating new jobs at City Hall without adding staff, including the positions of planner and grant writer.

“I’m excited to announce these key appointees who will become part of my administration to help move Erie forward. I have confidence in the people who are joining me today because of their experience and eagerness to transform our city,” Schember said.

The mayor-elect's team includes a mix of administrators new to city government and holdovers from Mayor Joe Sinnott's administration, and women and minorities are represented.

"We wanted our team to reflect this community," Schember said.

Among the high-profile appointees is Kathy Wyrosdick, 48, the city’s new planning director. Wyrosdick most recently was director of the Erie County Department of Planning under County Executive Kathy Dahlkemper.

As part of her duties, Wyrosdick will focus on implementing Erie Refocused, the city’s first comprehensive development plan in decades. The plan addresses the city’s future need in a number of areas, including housing, transportation, land use and economic development.

Wyrosdick has already worked closely with city officials on Erie Refocused for more than two years. She helped craft an action plan for short-term implementation of various improvement projects recommended as part of the comprehensive plan.

She said an initial priority will be setting up a series of neighborhood meetings, citywide, to better explain the comprehensive plan to local residents.

"The community meetings are a starting point," Wyrosdick said. "But this is a relationship-building exercise that we're going to undertake, so that we understand the needs of each neighborhood very intimately, so we can have an open line of conversation with the residents affected by this plan.

"And then we can determine how those neighborhood needs get realized in the overall scheme and the overall action plan," Wyrosdick said.

Schember also announced that Erie Bureau of Police Lt. Daniel Spizarny, 52, will be promoted to chief of police, replacing Donald Dacus.

Spizarny served as a detective lieutenant in the bureau’s Criminal Investigation Unit and was a member of its Special Weapons and Tactics team for more than 20 years. Spizarny has also received specialized police training at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia.

Other appointments announced by Schember:

• Renée Lamis, 48, who ran Schember’s mayoral campaign, will serve as his chief of staff. Lamis is a former director of Gannon University’s Master of Public Administration program and has worked as a consultant on local government issues.

• Chris Groner, a 44-year-old city economic development specialist, is being promoted to director of economic and community development, replacing Chris Mong, who took a job outside city government. Groner most recently oversaw the city’s Enterprise Zone Revolving Loan Fund.

"A couple of the first things I'd like to hit right out of the gate is a mechanism to assist small businesses," Groner said, such as a separate loan fund or "micro-grants" to help start-ups. Groner also said he plans to work on Schember's plan to reinstate 10-year, citywide tax breaks under the city’s Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance program.

Erie’s LERTA program, which was changed by City Council in 2002, gives a 10-year tax break on new construction on a sliding scale to homeowners living in LERTA’s target area, which is primarily the inner city



Schember believes the change could help entice more people to revamp their properties.

"There's going to be more of a business development focus," Groner said.

• Debra Smith, 57, a longtime grant administrator at the city, will be promoted to assistant director of economic and community development.

• Abigail Skinner, 37, has been hired as the city’s first full-time grant writer. Now an assistant grant administrator at the city, Skinner was previously the director of grants and research at the Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership.

• Michael Outlaw, 41, a case manager at the Erie County Re-Entry Services and Support Alliance, will serve as a community liaison, focusing on minority relations, police and the Unified Erie anti-violence initiative.

Outlaw is already involved with initiatives connected to Unified Erie, a broad-based, data-driven violence-reduction program created in 2010 and based on a three-prong approach to reducing violence and problem behaviors: prevention, law enforcement and re-entry.

Outlaw said he was interested in joining Schember's administration because "of my involvement over the years in the community. ... We need to make sure that communication between the police and the community is open and honest, so we can continue to build and provide hope to kids in the inner city."

• Niken Astari Carpenter, 37, will serve as an executive assistant and liaison to Erie’s refugee and immigrant communities. Astari Carpenter is a former member of Gov. Tom Wolf’s Advisory Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs.

• Erie lawyer Edward Betza, 50, will replace longtime city solicitor Greg Karle. Betza, who specializes in municipal and zoning law, will be retained part-time under a fee agreement that must be approved by Erie City Council.

Four of Mayor Joe Sinnott’s top staffers will continue with the Schember administration: 65-year-old Erie Bureau of Fire Chief Guy Santone; city Finance Director Paul Lichtenwalter, 57; Dave Mulvihill, 63, the city’s public works director, and Human Resources Director Connie Cook, 60.

Schember said he plans to hire a business development officer, a new position within the city's economic development office. Schember also expects to name a special assistant to the mayor soon. That person would focus on public relations and special events.

Kevin Flowers can be reached at 870-1693 or by email. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNflowers.