During the bi-monthly meeting on Monday (Sep. 25), the Dewitt City Council voted unanimously in favor of approval for a new Finance Director position. The decision came in response to acknowledging staffing shortages, and it aims a fresh proposal to separate duties currently handled by the Interim Clerk-Treasure Sarah Stoltzfus, who is temporarily overseeing the financial aspects.
Held at City Hall, the meeting was attended by six council members and a packed gallery of local citizens. The topic of introducing a new financial role has been of interest for not only Stoltzfus, but other individuals as well.
Council members expressed their concerns about the workload built up in the city’s financial department, which had placed burdens on staff.
Recognizing the challenges at hand, the council delivered important information about the new position that will not only ensure necessary support for the staff but also help a growing department to achieve success.
However, that isn’t the only topic the proposal addresses. There’s also a need for a more updated job description for the position of Clerk-Treasurer.
The Clerk-Treasurer ‘s role commonly includes a wide set of responsibilities that need to be completed, including keeping official records and managing financial tasks such as tax collecting, budgeting, accounting, etc. With a more defined set of responsibilities, this role will be important for creating a smoother productivity process.
In addition to public comments, Mayor Sue Leeming expresses her appreciation for Stoltzfus’s work. “I also want to make sure that we have sufficient internal controls and duplications of checking and backing up people,” Leeming said. She then concludes by emphasizing the necessity of separating positions. The creation of the new Finance Director role would be governed by the policies that not only the City Council sets, but also the mayor. Its position budget is in accordance with the City Administrator and in the supervision of it as well.
Ashlyn Gordy
A search For New Finance Director is in Motion to Expand Responsibilities Currently Being Upheld by Interim Clerk-Treasurer Temporarily.The responsibilities are described within the General Information Packet about the description of the Financial Director, including running payroll, organizing financial statements, managing reports, and preparing year-end closes of the General Ledger. However, the description for Clerk-Treasurer also states that this role is responsible for all the duties required within the charter.
The job description posting will be followed by the approval for both job descriptions. Included within the posting will list a starting salary range of $95,500 – $99,500 for the Financial Director. This person will participate in a Hybrid Pension program, which is a plan for employees hired after 2014.
City Administrator, Daniel Coss mentioned during the meeting information about a net increase. “What this means to us on a net increase is about $17,000 in a general fund. The salary from what we were paying to what we would be paying now, if this is approved by the council is about $37,000.”
For both job descriptions, the information was passed on to Principle Maner Costerisan, Mr. Steve Kirinovic for evaluation on both duties.