Can De'Carlon Seewood restore faith in Ferguson city management?
Ferguson, Mo., is turning to a familiar face to revamp city management.
The St. Louis suburb has been hard-pressed to appoint new leadership after聽weeks of violent clashes between civil-rights activists and police and聽a subsequent Justice Department (DOJ) investigation that found rampant violation of minority rights by the city's criminal justice system.聽
The newly selected city manager, De'Carlon聽Seewood, served as the assistant city manager of Ferguson from 2001-2007. Mr. Seewood is currently serving as the village manager in Richton Park, Ill., and is expected to assume his new position in Ferguson on November 30.
"We're hoping he can hit the ground running here,鈥� Ferguson Mayor James Knowles said Wednesday.聽Seewood is "someone with the knowledge of the area, but ... he's been gone for eight years and can bring a fresh perspective to the city."
As city manager, Seewood will be in charge of hiring, appointing, and firing city employees,聽, and communicating with the city council on the city鈥檚 financial position, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The selection of Seewood as the Ferguson's new city manager comes eight months after the resignation of John Shaw, who had been implicated in the DOJ report as having "instructed city employees to聽,鈥� The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported at the time.聽
Mr. Shaw . 鈥淚 must state clearly that my office has never instructed the police department to target African-Americans, nor falsify charges to administer fines, nor heap abuses on the backs of the poor,鈥� he wrote in the statement.
Mayor Knowles said Shaw鈥檚 departure was a 鈥渕utually agreed upon separation.鈥�
The report further found that Ferguson police and court officials sent racist emails and that the police department and court had 鈥渇rom the initial traffic stop to how they were treated in court.鈥�
Both Shaw鈥檚 departure and the subsequent Thomas Jackson were applauded by some, but others argue that mayor Knowles should also be replaced.
This report contains material from Reuters and the Associated Press.
