Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announced on Tuesday that he had chosen Lillian Bonsignore, the former chief of New York’s Emergency Medical Services, to be the city’s next fire commissioner.
Ms. Bonsignore’s appointment marked a first for the nation’s largest fire department. She is the first openly gay person to lead the department and only its second female commissioner. She will be the first person who headed E.M.S. to run the department, a Mamdani spokeswoman said.
But a little more than 30 minutes before the announcement in Bayside, Queens, Mayor Eric Adams, whose term ends in eight days, announced his own hastily called news conference to swear in his own commissioner. Mark Guerra, who has been the interim head of the department for less than a week, will become commissioner for the next eight days.
When Mr. Mamdani is sworn in at midnight on Jan. 1, Mr. Guerra’s appointment will end.
Mr. Adams’s unusual, impromptu and largely ceremonial swearing-in was yet another clash with Mr. Mamdani in the waning days of the mayor’s tenure.
Mr. Adams has repeatedly critiqued Mr. Mamdani’s “socialist” policies, warning that the city is in danger. And last week, he appointed or reappointed four people to the Rent Guidelines Board, which could make it difficult for Mr. Mamdani to immediately fulfill his campaign promise of freezing the rent for those who live in the city’s one million rent-stabilized apartments.
Asked about Tuesday’s competing events, Mr. Mamdani smiled.
“I can tell you that Lillian’s light is one that can’t be damaged by anything else that takes place,” said Mr. Mamdani. “And the mayor is free to to continue to be the mayor until the end of this year and make decisions as such.”
Mr. Mamdani introduced Ms. Bonsignore, 56, at Fort Totten, where the fire department trains emergency medical services workers. The mayor-elect’s transition team had been in touch with the Adams administration on Monday, as it scouted for a firehouse to make the announcement.
Mr. Mamdani’s transition team staff members did not learn about the swearing-in of Mr. Guerra, 63, until the mayor’s office sent an update to Mr. Adams’s schedule just before their news conference. A spokesman for Mr. Adams said the only goal was to have a permanent commissioner in place, not to overshadow Mr. Mamdani’s announcement.
At his news conference, Mr. Adams said he made Mr. Guerra’s appointment permanent because the city’s public safety agencies must maintain a sense of readiness. “They don’t go on holiday,” the mayor said.
But the move in the last days of the Adams administration surprised veteran observers of city government. It is not unusual for acting commissioners to run agencies. Laura Kavanagh, a former fire commissioner, served as acting commissioner for at least nine months before she was made permanent.
Ms. Bonsignore, 56, retired from the Fire Department in 2022 after 31 years. When she was named chief of emergency medical operations in 2019, she also became the first openly gay person and the first woman to hold that title, which made her the highest-ranking uniformed woman in the history of the Fire Department and the first woman to achieve a four-star rank.
Ms. Kavanagh, whom Mr. Adams appointed as the first woman to lead the department in 2022, praised Ms. Bonsignore as “one of the strongest leaders” she had ever worked with and cited her efforts “on the front lines of Covid.”
Mr. Guerra replaced Robert S. Tucker, who turned in his letter of resignation the day after Mr. Mamdani was elected. Mr. Tucker, who is Jewish, cited the mayor-elect’s views on Israel as a “factor” in his resignation, which took effect on Dec. 19.
At his swearing-in at Gracie Mansion on Tuesday, Mr. Guerra said he would serve for “a short period of time” during the busy holiday season to provide “continuity of operations” as “we move into the new administration.” He joined the Fire Department in 1988 and was formerly the first deputy commissioner.
Emma G. Fitzsimmons and William K. Rashbaum contributed reporting.
Jeffery C. Mays is a Times reporter covering politics with a focus on New York City Hall.
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