The City of Havre de Grace swore in its three new council members and elevated Councilman Wayne Dougherty to his newly elected position of mayor Monday night.

Joe Kochenderfer, Barbara Jenifer-Ferguson and Randolph Craig were sworn into the council as Councilmen Fred Cullum and Gary Wasielewski and Mayor John Correrri stepped down — all three having lost the race for mayor.

In one of his first official acts, Dougherty enacted a hiring freeze for all city agencies except the police department until the budget-making process is over and he has completed his transition into the mayor’s office.

“To get a grip on everything during the transition, I want to meet with each department head, department by department,” Dougherty said. The hiring freeze would prevent circumstances from changing in the midst of that process, he said.

This story continues below
Advertisement

Dougherty said the hiring freeze likely would be lifted by July since the council is scheduled to adopt its 2008 budget in the last meeting of June.

Until then, any vacancies that urgently needed to be filled would be reviewed with him on a case-by-case basis, he said.

He also issued executive orders to commission a study of the city’s water and sewer resources, to review and update the city’s department of human resources and to study safety and risk management at all city facilities in order to reduce insurance costs.

Dougherty and the rest of the council leapt right into city business, attending budget meetings Tuesday night to prepare for the upcoming fiscal year. Yet the learning curve was not too steep. Jenifer-Ferguson and Kochenderfer have served on the council before.

msantoni@baltimoreexaminer.com