CFO Resolution Up for Vote June 21

A consensus of City Council members agreed to put a controversial resolution up for a vote next week, despite Corporation Counsel Dan Williamson's opinion that the governing body does not have the right to ask state intercession to get a chief finance officer.

The key city post has been vacant since December 2007. Although the state Division of Local Government Services has asked the mayor to meet a deadline for nomination of a permanent CFO, the city is now under a third extension to do so. The proposed resolution asks the Department of Community Affairs, of which LGS is a branch, to appoint a temporary certified municipal finance oficer immediately.

The lack of both a CFO and a director of Administration and Finance has led to growing concern about fiscal oversight.

Councilman Cory Storch said Monday Williamson's memo "missed the whole point" of the resolution. The council is not getting monthly finance reports and audit findings, he said.

"We're flying blind," Storch said. "To make an argument that we don't have authority completely misses the point."

But Councilman William Reid pointed out the current deadline to hire a CFO is July 19 and called the resolution "premature."

"Let July 19 run out and see what happens," Reid said.

If the deadline is not met, he said, the state may then take action.

Councilman Adrian Mapp echoed Storch's comment, saying the council was flying blind by not having a finance director and a CFO reporting to the director.

Past reasons for not getting a CFO include a scarcity of available candidates and not offering a sufficiently attractive pay scale. But Williamson said despite the council's intimation that the mayor was not seeking one, the governing body had rejected one candidate, and talks to hire Mapp, a certified CFO, did not pan out.

City Administrator Bibi Taylor, who is also the current acting director of Administration, Finance, Health & Social Services, told the council, "The mayor takes the responsibility to appoint very seriously."

Asked what the council could do to help the process, Taylor asked for "patience."

A city employee who holds CFO certification has been signing off on expenses, but Local Government Services told the city last year that there could not be an "acting" CFO. Williamson said the state also rejected a proposal to hire a firm to provide CFO services, because the CFO must be an employee. A city employee recently took the CFO test, he said, but results are not yet in.

"We've just been unlucky" in the quest for a CFO, he said, adding the mayor "takes umbrage" at suggestions she has not been looking.

Mapp, Storch and City Council President Annie McWilliams favored putting the resolution up for a vote next Monday, while Reid and Councilman Rashid Burney opposed it. Councilwoman Linda Carter spoke at length about the pros and cons of the situation and somewhat reluctantly agreed to move the resolution to Monday's agenda. Councilwoman Bridget Rivers was absent.

The regular meeting is 8 p.m. June 21 in Municipal Court, 325 Watchung Ave.

--Bernice Paglia