There has been much consternation lately about the lack of movement from Mayor Tom Henry in appointing a new Deputy Mayor. Former Deputy Mayor Mark Becker left at the end of May. I think part of the delay may have to do with giving the future Deputy Mayor some time to come to grips with the immensity of his/her new task. Budget hearings start soon and to come into that with little or no preparation would be asking a lot of anyone.  While I’ve heard much about this inaction, I’ve not heard any speculation as to who the next DM might be.Â
Well, let me be the first to speculate. I’m going to throw Current Public Information Officer Ozzie Mitson’s name into the ring. If I remember correctly, he led Candidate Tom Henry’s campaign for the office. When he was appointed as one of three PIO’s, but not the head PIO, I found myself scratching my head in wonderment. He certainly was qualified to lead the Public Information Office. Remember, this was back when Deputy Mayor Mark Becker, and most of the senior administration, had stayed on to ease the transition. Upon announcement of his decision to stay on into the Henry Administration, Mark said nothing about leaving in six months. Remember too that there were quite a few comments made about needing three PIO’s plus a Deputy Mayor.
So let me throw out Ozzie Mitson’s name as possibly the new Fort Wayne Deputy Mayor. I could be wrong, and probably am, but this has been bugging me since Mark’s announcement.Â
Speaking of Mark Becker, I sat down for an interview with him shortly before his last day. It was a great interview and I was fortunate to have obtained permission to do this. I hopefully will be posting it this weekend, barring any further hardware issues.
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Ozzie did not run Tom’s campaign. He had run Nelson Peter’s campaign. Before that he worked for the Chamber of Commerce as their government affairs person.
Thanks for the correction, Karen. Shows how much I pay attention, I guess.