Mayor Adams has appointed Tiffany Raspberry and Camille Joseph-Varlack as deputy mayors, expanding his administration’s leadership team.
Tiffany Raspberry, who’s been handling intergovernmental affairs, and Camille Joseph-Varlack, his chief of staff, are stepping into these new roles right away. Adams shared this news during his weekly press conference at City Hall.
Joseph-Varlack will be the deputy mayor of administration, while Raspberry takes on the deputy mayor of intergovernmental affairs. These titles are fresh additions to the city’s government structure.
Interestingly, Joseph-Varlack will keep her chief of staff position and won’t see a pay increase, as she already earns a hefty $287,663. Raspberry, a close ally of Adams, will get a bump from her current $260,000 salary to match the deputy mayor level.
Before this promotion, Raspberry had her eyes set on a vice president role at Fordham University but didn’t land the job. The position had a starting salary of $310,000, according to a job posting.
Adams has faced some challenges lately, including a federal corruption indictment and a wave of senior advisers leaving his team, often due to their own legal troubles.
A spokesperson from Fordham didn’t comment on the situation, and while Raspberry didn’t respond to requests for comment, Adams’ spokeswoman said her application for the university job didn’t influence her promotion.
With these new appointments, Adams now has eight deputy mayors, which is more than recent mayors. In the past, mayors like Bloomberg and Koch had seven at most during their terms.
