Why No Finance Director?

Six months into 2010, there is still no permanent director of the largest of three city departments, Administration, Finance, Health and Social Services.

In the mayor's first term, this post was filled by an array of directors and sometimes by the city administrator doing double duty. During the last six months of 2009, Bibi Taylor held the title and impressed the governing body with her expertise.

As the mayor's second term began, Taylor was named acting city administrator and acting AFH&SS department head, initially just for January, as she was expected to leave for an administrative job in another municipality. Council members were pleased when she decided to stay on as city administrator and quickly confirmed her for the job.

As for holding the additional post of department head, nothing was spelled out, but Taylor tacitly kept that responsibility as well.

For some time, there has been a rule that acting positions should be held no longer than 90 days before a permanent person is named. This rule has been ignored at times in the mayor's first term and it is now past time this year to find a permanent department head.

The city charter calls for three department heads to whom all divisions report. Besides AFH&SS, there is a department of Public Works & Urban Development and one for Public Affairs & Safety. During the Mark Fury administration in the mid-1990s, several divisions were moved from Public Affairs & Safety to other departments. Besides the offices of the tax collector, tax assessor and chief finance officer, AFH&SS included purchasing, the municipal court and audit and control. The realignment under Fury put the finance director additionally in charge of the Health Division, the Women, Infants & Children nutrition program, Animal Control, the Bilingual Day Care Center, the Senior Center, the Healthy Mothers/Healthy Babies program, Personnel, Dudley House and Communicable Diseases.

Fury's reason at the time was that he wanted to put a person with a social services background in charge of Administration & Finance. The individual soon proved to be not up to the task, but the new arrangement remains to this day.

In the mayor's first term, AFH&SS had several directors, and two different city administrators held the post in acting capacity for many months. Coupled with the lack of a permanent chief finance officer since the end of 2007, the situation set the stage for lapses such as the $1.7 million error in the FY 2009 budget.

The state Division of Local Government Services has set a deadline for the city to come up with a chief finance officer, a statutory position required for municipal government. The department head is required by the city's special charter, so it may be up to the governing body to press the mayor for action on filling the post permanently.

Taylor has come across to the public as extremely qualified for either of her current roles, but the burden of dual responsibilities can wear anybody down. And surely in these hard fiscal times it would be good to have the checks and balances envisioned in the charter by having three separate department heads reporting to the city administrator.

As for taking another look at the arrangement of divisions under the three department heads, that is an issue that needs to be examined separately. It is 20 years since a Charter Study Commission gave its report to the City Council, which at the time declined to act on any of its recommendations. Since then, Public Affairs & Safety has had all its former divisions removed except Police and Fire. The Fire Division still has a chief, but the police chief has been replaced by a police director. The department head and the police director are the same person currently. Inspections and Recreation are now under Public Works & Urban Development.

Because the charter was created by state legislation, any major changes must be made the same way. It would take two years or more to do so, even if the city started the process now. Meanwhile, the current mayor's second term just began in January and runs through 2013. Finding a qualified permanent finance director (and hiring a CFO) early on could bring more stability to city government in these uncertain times.

--Bernice Paglia