Ohio’s Shaker Heights — Matt Carroll, a former longtime county administrator, is set to be confirmed as Shaker Heights’ next chief administrative officer by a vote of the city council on Monday.
Carroll has been appointed to the role, which is the equivalent of a city manager job and is responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the city. Mayor David Weiss has urged council to approve his nomination. Carroll is presently the Senior Advisor for Strategic Initiatives for Cuyahoga County.
Carroll provides a breadth of public administration experience, proven leadership skills, and a strong alignment with the city’s values and strategic goals, according to Weiss’ memo to the council.
According to the memo, the city held ten in-person interviews after receiving over 60 applications before Weiss decided on Carroll.
On Monday, a representative for the city of Shaker Heights was questioned by Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer over Carroll’s pay.
Carroll will replace Jeri Chaikin, who announced in April that she would be retiring on September 30 after 25 years in the position, if the council accepts the change.
Carroll would also take over as council clerk, replacing Chaikin.
Since Cuyahoga County’s charter was adopted in 2010, Carroll has held positions in the highest levels of the county government.
Prior to moving into his present position, which pays $189,000 annually, he was County Executive Ed FitzGerald’s chief of staff. He then went on to become Armond Budish’s and County Executive Chris Ronayne’s chief of economic development and opportunity.
Carroll was also the Cuyahoga County Convention Facilities Development Corporation’s board president. During his tenure, Carroll approved 106 improper reimbursements of over $116,000 in taxpayer funds to BioEnterprise, a private firm that was engaged to market the defunct Global Center for Health Innovation, according to a state auditor’s task force report published in 2023.
Before BioEnterprise closed, the board had achieved a settlement with the company that made it whole, the corporation’s board said in a statement following the report’s release.
Carroll also provided testimony in the 2021 criminal trial of former Cuyahoga County Corrections Administrator Kenneth Mills, who was accused of mismanaging the jail in the lead-up to numerous overdose deaths and incidents of guard abuse of inmates. Mills was found guilty of dereliction of duty and falsification.
In 2023, Mills’ conviction was reversed after an appeal. Following more than two years without any fresh filings from Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost’s office, Mills requested that the matter be dismissed by a judge in May.
Former Sheriff Clifford Pinkney testified during Mills’ trial that Carroll had secured Mills, who had no prior jail experience, the position of head of the county’s correctional section under Budish. At the time, Carroll claimed he couldn’t remember if he had anything to do with Mills’ hire.
