{"id":80344,"date":"2026-01-07T16:16:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T16:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/80344\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T16:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T16:16:10","slug":"mayor-daria-s-devlin-announces-mayors-office-restructuring-and-additional-hires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/80344\/","title":{"rendered":"Mayor Daria S. Devlin announces Mayor\u2019s Office restructuring and additional hires"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mayor<\/a>Erie Mayor Daria Devlin announces City Hall department restructuring and staff, Jan. 6, 2026. Photo by Joel Natalie, TalkErie.com.<\/p>\n

Reflecting a commitment to effective governance and stronger community connections<\/p>\n

Mayor Daria S. Devlin, 49th\u00a0Mayor of the City of Erie, announced the restructuring of the Mayor\u2019s Office, including the creation of a Mayor\u2019s Office of Community Affairs, establishment of a new Office of Grants, and the restructuring and renaming of the former Department of Economic and Community Development as the Department of Neighborhood & Economic Development, including new leadership and bureau alignment.<\/p>\n

Mayor Devlin also introduced leadership across City departments, which reflect continuity in day-to-day operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur transition team did an incredible job reviewing information and making recommendations, and these decisions directly reflect those,\u201d said Mayor Devlin. \u201cThese reorganized positions are designed to strengthen the City\u2019s internal capacity, improve responsiveness to residents, and better position City operations to meet long-term strategic priorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are all in this together, and above all, my administration and I are committed to serving our community with care, building trust, and delivering excellence \u2014 and this restructuring is a key part of that commitment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Mayor\u2019s Office of Community Affairs, which builds and expands on the work previously housed within the Department of Communications, will serve as the City\u2019s central hub for public communication, community engagement, and resident response. The Office, prioritizing accessibility, responsiveness, and relationship-building, is designed to ensure that residents can engage with City government clearly and consistently \u2014 whether they are seeking information, submitting concerns, attending events, or building partnerships with the City.<\/p>\n

The new Office of Grants centralizes the City\u2019s grant strategy, compliance, and reporting functions to ensure Erie is well-positioned to secure, manage, and steward public and philanthropic funding. By bringing grant development and oversight under one office, the City aims to increase competitiveness for funding opportunities, improve compliance and transparency, and better align grant funding with City priorities.<\/p>\n

The former Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) is being restructured and renamed the Department of Neighborhood & Economic Development (DNED) to better reflect the City\u2019s focus on neighborhood vitality, housing, planning, and equitable economic growth.<\/p>\n

A full transition team report outlining the team\u2019s findings and recommendations will be published in late January.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s announced positions include:<\/p>\n

Mayor\u2019s Office of Community Affairs (restructured)<\/p>\n

Media & Public Relations Coordinator \u2013 Mary Wassell (new hire)<\/p>\n

Digital Media & Design Coordinator \u2013 Monica Gustin<\/p>\n

Citizen Response Center Coordinator \u2013 Mas Sala<\/p>\n

Special Events Coordinator \u2013 Hunter Lytle (new hire)<\/p>\n

New American Affairs Coordinator \u2013 Wuji Ahmad (new hire)<\/p>\n

Office of Community Affairs Coordinator \u2013 Tori Williams (new hire)<\/p>\n

Office of Grants (new)<\/p>\n

The office will include the following roles:<\/p>\n

Director \u2013 Dave Tamulonis (new hire)<\/p>\n

Grant Writer \u2013 Aaron Loncki<\/p>\n

Grant Administrator \u2013 Kat Blair<\/p>\n

Department of Neighborhood & Economic Development (DNED) (restructured)<\/p>\n

This Department will be led by Director Cathryn Easterling and will include three bureaus:<\/p>\n

Director \u2013 Cathryn Easterling (new hire)<\/p>\n

Bureau of Planning & Zoning \u2013 Jackie Spry, Bureau Chief<\/p>\n

Bureau of Building Standards & Safety\u00a0\u2013 Steve Yurkewicz, Bureau Chief<\/p>\n

Bureau of DECD Grants \u2013 Deb Smith, Bureau Chief<\/p>\n

Department of Public Works<\/p>\n

Director \u2013 Jason Sayers<\/p>\n

Assistant Director \u2013 Jeff Gibbens<\/p>\n

Assistant Director\/City Engineer \u2013 Leann Parmenter<\/p>\n

Bureau Chief of Municipal Garage \u2013 Rob Bedow<\/p>\n

Bureau Chief of Park \u2013 Gary Graham<\/p>\n

Bureau Chief of Refuse \u2013 Keith Catalde<\/p>\n

Bureau Chief of Sewers \u2013 Basil Ronzitti<\/p>\n

Bureau Chief of Streets \u2013 William Wegelin<\/p>\n

City of Erie Fire Department<\/p>\n

Fire Chief \u2013 Len Trott<\/p>\n

Assistant Fire Chief \u2013 Greg Purchase<\/p>\n

Assistant Fire Chief \u2013 Al Bucheral<\/p>\n

Department of Finance<\/p>\n

Director \u2013 Lisa Gomersall<\/p>\n

Assistant Director \u2013 Melissa Rizzo<\/p>\n

Department of Human Resources<\/p>\n

Director \u2013 Theresa Croll (new hire)<\/p>\n

Assistant Director\u2013 Carol MacWhirter<\/p>\n

These changes and restructuring reallocate existing roles within the current budget, and do not add any additional costs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Erie Mayor Daria Devlin announces City Hall department restructuring and staff, Jan. 6, 2026. Photo by Joel Natalie,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80345,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[136,138,137],"class_list":{"0":"post-80344","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-erie","8":"tag-erie","9":"tag-erie-headlines","10":"tag-erie-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}