Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly announced he is filling five key roles in his administration by promoting current staff members who "have demonstrated the ability to drive critical agenda items from the One Chattanooga strategy," his outline for what he'd like to see policy-wise as mayor.
Subject to the Chattanooga City Council's approval, the mayor named Karitsa Mosley Jones, whose Hamilton County school board tenure ends this year, as administrator of the Department of Early Learning.
"The future of our city rests on the actions we take today to provide high-quality, accessible and equitable early learning opportunities for our youngest students," Kelly said in a statement. "Our commitment to early learning has never been stronger, and with Karitsa taking the lead, I'm confident that we have the tools in place to deliver the results our residents expect and deserve."
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Kelly also named Chris Anderson as the mayor's senior adviser for legislative initiatives. He will be responsible for code and ordinance reform. Anderson was formerly the administrator of the Department of Innovation Delivery and Performance.
"We have a lot of unwieldy code and zoning rules, and we've been kicking the can down the road for too many years," Kelly said. "I can't think of a better person than Chris, who knows the current ordinances and their shortcomings, and who can work with our city council to help shepherd along these important initiatives to overhaul our land use, zoning and enforcement rules."
In addition, Tim Moreland, deputy administrator of the Department of Innovation Delivery and Performance, will replace Anderson as administrator of the Department of Innovation Delivery and Performance.
Kelly also appointed Dylan Rivera as the director of policy planning and implementation, filling the role vacated by Brooke Satterfield when she was promoted to deputy chief of staff.
Rivera formerly served as the director of innovation special projects in the Department of Innovation Delivery and Performance, and he worked as assistant political director for Kelly's mayoral campaign.
Finally, Kelly also appointed Kimberly Strong as constituent services coordinator, a liaison who will be responsible for responding to resident inquiries, calls and complaints.
Kelly announced the appointments in a news release Tuesday.
- Compiled by Logan Hullinger