Mayor's chief of staff stepping down

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - There a shakeup coming in the Indianapolis mayor's office.

24-Hour News 8 has learned that Chief of Staff Chris Cotterill is leaving Mayor Greg Ballard's office to return to the private sector.

Ryan Vaughn is stepping down from his seat on the City-County Council to replace Cotterill. The change will happen May 14, the mayor's office said in a news release Wednesday.

Vaughn is a lawyer and has served as a deputy prosecutor. He will leave his job with Barnes & Thornburg LLP to join the administration.

"Ryan has been a key partner in our efforts to balance the city's budgets, reduce crime, invest hundreds of millions of dollars in our neighborhoods and make Indianapolis a more livable city," Ballard said in the news release.

The Marion County Republican Party chairman will call a caucus of precinct committee members to elect a replacement within a month.

Cotterill has been Ballard's chief of staff since November 2009. Prior to that, he was the city's corporate counsel starting in 2008. His departure from the mayor's office is amicable, Ballard said.

"I will continue to seek his advice and service in other ways for the betterment of Indianapolis," the mayor said.