Acting Finance Director Named

The rumored new acting Finance Director showed up on the job this week.

Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs has appointed A. Raiford Daniels acting director of the Department of Administration and Finance, Health and Social Services. As acting director, Daniels can serve 90 days in charge of the largest of three city departments before the mayor must seek City Council advice and consent for a permanent appointment.

Talk of Daniels being the nominee circulated at the end of October, but could not be confirmed by either City Council President Rayland Van Blake or mayoral mentor Assemblyman Jerry Green. Green did confirm that Daniels was a state NAACP official.



Daniels attended both the agenda session Monday and the regular meeting Wednesday, where he sat in the place usually reserved for the city administrator. As of Monday, the City Clerk’s office had no public information on his qualifications.

Currently, there is no city administrator in charge of day-to-day city operations since Carlton McGee left Oct. 30 to become chief financial officer in the Atlanta school district. McGee had also been serving as acting finance director, so his departure left two of the administration’s top four posts vacant.

The Finance department includes the tax assessor, tax collector, audit and control, purchasing and administrative services. A reorganization of divisions among the three departments under former Mayor Mark Fury added health, inspections, senior center and community programs to the roster.

--Bernice Paglia