Jack Sammons taking post as Memphis CAO

Will resign position on airport authority

Former Memphis City Council member Jack Sammons has agreed to return to city government as chief administrative officer, ending a month of speculation about the position and shaking up Mayor A C Wharton’s administration months before a hotly contested election.

If the City Council approves his appointment Tuesday, Sammons will resign as chairman of the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority board and take over as CAO May 9, Sammons and Wharton told The Commercial Appeal on Monday evening.

Sammons, who also will take a leave of absence as president and chief operating officer of manufacturer Ampro Industries until after the Oct. 8 election, said the decision to leave the airport au- thority was “emotional,” but that he hopes to invigorate the city administration.

“I’ll bring a new level of energy to the organization and the building that I hope will be inspirational, perhaps, to our folks,” Sammons said. “... I’m not going to come in here and say this is going to cure the ills of Memphis. We share urban America’s challenges: limited budgets, growing needs. And it’s all about allocation and partnership with the City Council.”

Wharton said his adminis- tration has lacked someone like Sammons, who can execute ideas and who can advise him about how to better handle political situations, including improving the “critical” relationship between the mayor and the council.

“I listened to people, and the critical assessment I’ve heard is, ‘Mayor, we’ve talked, we’ve planned, but I haven’t heard anything,’ ” Wharton said. “And that’s been the missing link: Follow through.”

Wharton said the change has been in the works since 2010, when he told CAO George Little he was “frustrated” with his performance.

Little will act as special assistant to the mayor — reporting to Sammons — overseeing projects such as the consolidation of the back offices of the police and fire departments.

Sammons — who ser ved as CAO for about five months through Jan. 1, 2010, under interim mayor Myron Lowery — will assemble his team over the next week, bringing on new employees and shifting others.