Cleveland City Council Member Kerry McCormack will step down from his seat next month for a job at the security camera company Flock Safety.
McCormack is recommending Lauren Welch, a Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority board member, to take the job for the rest of the year. Welch is one of Mayor Justin Bibb’s appointees to the RTA board.
First appointed to council in 2016 to replace Joe Cimperman, McCormack had already decided not to seek another term. He represents Ward 3, which includes downtown Cleveland and a swath of the near West Side and has seen a surge in development in recent years.
At Flock, he will lead public affairs for the eastern U.S., working with local governments that use the company’s technology. He will remain in Cleveland.
“Excited to work with them and to work with local communities and other businesses on all the tools and products they use around safety, and database and community investment,” he said in a phone interview. “It seemed like a good fit from the work I’ve done locally here at council.”
Cleveland uses Flock’s automated license plate readers. McCormack said he would not work with the city for a year in his new role, following Ohio “revolving door” ethics rules. He said that Flock welcomes “hard questions” about its surveillance technology.
“They want to engage on the issue,” he said. “The company doesn’t, say, disregard those concerns or run from them.”
McCormack’s last day will be Oct. 3. He will ask his council colleagues to appoint Welch to replace him for the remaining three months of his term.
Welch currently serves as the communications director for the nonprofit Say Yes Cleveland. She will take a leave from that job but can retain her position on the RTA board, she said. Welch also serves on the board of Environmental Health Watch.
“This just feels like a continuation of the work that I’ve already been doing,” she said. “This is only three months, so even though it’s brief, I believe it can be meaningful.”
The Ward 3 boundaries will change next year. Much of the area currently in the ward will be part of the new Ward 7, while parts of downtown will be in the new Wards 8 and 5.
Austin Davis and Mohammad Faraj are running for the Ward 7 seat in the November election.
