Ordinance establishing appointed treasurer's position gets first reading

The Alexander City Council took one step towards changing the position of city treasurer from elected to appointed. Council members voted to have the first reading of the ordinance at the September 16 council meeting. Three readings are required.

The council was forced into taking this action to fill the vacancy when no one, who lives in Alexander, submitted a resume after City Treasurer JoAn Churchill resigned effective December 31, 2023. Also, no one submitted a petition for the upcoming November election, which was to have the position appear on the ballot. Once the ordinance goes into effect anyone, whether they live in Alexander or not, can be hired as city treasurer.

City Attorney Chris Madison explained the concept of having someone in-house monitoring the bookkeeper and hiring an accounting firm from the outside to monitor the bookkeeper and treasurer.

"[B]asically you're trying to get somebody who is responsible for ensuring that the books are done properly," Madison said. "Because I still think the idea of contracting with a government accounting firm that's licensed to do some agreed upon procedures would be appropriate."

"And they basically do random sample draws of checking to make sure that they're supporting information for expenditures and pay reports (are) filled out properly," Madison continued. "Basically doing like leg audit (Legislative Audit) does at year end, but throughout the year."

"And it's a double layer of protection because we still have the year end with leg audit," Mayor Crystal Herrmann said.

It was Council Member Juanita Wilson who requested at the August meeting the mayor advertise a Request For Qualifications (RFQ). Wilson wanted to know what type of choices the city will have when the elected position is eliminated and the position can be filled by any individual or accounting firm.

"All right. Do we have some candidates for that," Wilson asked?

Madison said, "So the selection of the appointment of this position is under the authority of the mayor."

"I was going to put out a R of Q as far as a (accounting) firm, but as far as in-house, I would choose (Office Manager) Jennifer Hill," Herrmann. "And the reason I would choose Jennifer Hill is because she has six years as treasurer duties (in Haskell). She's got 200 with something hours and she's a municipal certified staff. She's certified. She has the most qualifications and we're fortunate enough to have her in our office."

"I'll just let you all know, real quick, the legislative audit that is going on right now, because we don't have a treasurer, then the mayor and I are having to do it all anyways, because we don't currently have a treasurer," Hill said. "So a lot of the stuff is being done the way it is because so leg audit is still going to want somebody to be responsible for the money."

The second reading of the ordinance is expected to be done at the October 21 council meeting. The meeting is at 6:00 PM in the courtroom at the Alexander Municipal Complex (City Hall).