Mayor Gray Appoints Two New Agency Directors: Terry Bellamy at DDOT and David Miramontes at Fire and EMS

At his weekly press conference Wednesday, Mayor Gray announced two new appointees to agency director positions. Terry Bellamy, appointed as the permanent director at the District Department of Transportation (DDOT), has served as interim director since former Mayor Fenty's appointee, Gabe Klein, . David Miramontes will be the new medical director at D.C. Fire and EMS (FEMS), a position that has been vacant since January 2010.

About Bellamy, Gray said he has "demonstrated innovative leadership" during his service at DDOT.

When reporters asked Bellamy what differences there would be his leadership and that of the previous heads of DDOT, he said he will continue to "run the vision that's been set out for us. I think that many of the programs and activities that we've been doing have been planned for over 20 years and we continue to carry that forward."

Bellamy added that DDOT "we will bring the best and brightest technology to the District of Columbia as relates to transportation."

Bellamy joined DDOT in 2008, after serving eight years as the Bureau Chief of Transportation, Engineering and Operations with the Arlington County, Virginia. Transportation Department. He has also held leadership positions in both Fayetteville and Greensboro, N.C.

David Miramontes is an emergency medicine attending physician, faculty member and EMS director at Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center, a Level I trauma/burn center and emergency department in Toledo, Ohio.

Miramontes said he believes the District has "some unique challenges" found in other major urban areas. Namely matching "run volume to our resources" and "keeping up with medicine."

"I hope to take the department in a new direction in training and education and making sure that we're doing the job with good customer service, professional conduct and awesome medical care that's state of the art," said Miramontes.

He plans to study the force's capabilities and to identify new efficiencies that may entail deplying equipment differently and possibly obtaining new equipment to meet changing demands. Gray explained that 80-85 percent of FEMS runs are now EMS.

Miramontes has been on the job only a few days, but will soon move to D.C. to become a District Resident. Bellamy is a resident of Ward 6.