Borough President-elect Melinda Katz announced Tuesday that she has appointed her former rival, Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans), as the next deputy borough president.
Additionally, the incoming borough president tapped Jay Bond, who spent nearly a decade serving as senior policy advisor to Katz while she was in the City Council, as her chief of staff.
Katz lauded Comrie – who ran against her for borough president in the past election – and Bond, who most recently worked as policy director for the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
“Jay’s years of experience in the public and private sectors and Leroy’s long history of leadership in Queens will be essential as we build the most open, inclusive, and transparent transition in Queens history,” Katz said in a statement issued Tuesday.
This “transition” team – which echoes the group of the same name for Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio – will, Katz said, reach out throughout the city to build a new administration at Queens Borough Hall.
“From the beginning, this campaign was about empowering working families and making life better for every Queens resident,” said Katz, who will replace Borough President Helen Marshall Jan 1. “In order to make that vision a reality, Borough Hall needs the best public servants from across our city – and I’m confident we can find them.”
Comrie, who was first elected to the Council in 2002 and has represented St. Albans, Hollis, Cambria Heights, Jamaica, and parts of Queens Village, Rosedale, and Springfield Gardens, is the chair of the Council’s powerful Land Use Committee and sits on the committees on consumer affairs, cultural affairs, libraries and international intergroup relations, and finance.
“Now more than ever, Queens needs Melinda’s vision for a more prosperous and equitable borough,” Comrie said in the same statement. “Over the 20 years I’ve spent working with her, Melinda has proven herself a tireless and honest public servant with a real plan to move our borough forward.”
Bond too praised the incoming borough president.
“For years, Melinda Katz has served our borough with distinction and achieved tangible results on the issues working families care about,” he said. “i’m excited to build on that progress by helping Melinda assemble the most qualified team possible from every walk of life and every corner of our city. With their help, and with Melinda’s leadership, Borough Hall will fight for better schools, expanded health care, and a more robust business environment throughout Queens.
By Anna Gustafson
