BREAKING NEWS: Karrie Howard to become next Cleveland safety director

Former federal and city prosecutor Karrie D. Howard to be sworn in today as safety director

Karrie Howard, appointed by Cleveland mayor Frank Jackson as deputy safety director for operations earlier this year, will be sworn in as Cleveland's Safety Director this afternoon at 1:30PM. 

Howard has been Acting Safety Director since June 1 when Michael McGrath went on vacation. McGrath officially retired this week.

Howard's appointment is seen by some as the culmination of a two-step process that was likely initiated when Howard was promoted from chief prosecutor to assistant safety director earlier this year. The sense is that Jackson wanted to give Howard some experience before promoting him to the top post in the safety department.  It is highly likely that McGrath gave a head's up to Jackson at least at the start of the year that he would retire. 

Some would have preferred Jackson either conduct a national search for a new director, and others stumped for the promotion of an internal candidate. But Jackson is most likely a lame duck, not likely to serve past the end of his record fourth four-year term. He is already the longest serving mayor in Cleveland's history. He has declined to announce whether he will seek a fifth term next year, but several likely candidates are already running unannounced campaigns, including at least two of his allies — City Council president Kevin Kelley and State Senator Sandra Williams — who would be unlikely to be running if Jackson were seriously considering trying to retain the seat.

Under these circumstances, it is highly unlikely that a national candidate would have accepted a job, not knowing to whom he might be reporting in little more than a year. 

Howard is a former Marine and Assistant U.S. Attorney. He ran for a county judgeship in 2018. A few months later he joined the Jackson administration as city prosecutor.

The swearing-in will be televised on TV-20 and also on the city's Facebook page.

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Editor's Note: Today's swearing in ceremony took place ahead of the time originally scheduled. It took place before the time it was first scheduled to be broadcast on TV-20.