43
Campbell mayor to interview 4 for finance director
Photo
Campbell Mayor William VanSuch
By Jeanne Starmack
Campbell
Four candidates have been chosen to interview for the post of finance director, which the mayor says he hopes to fill by Feb. 1.
Mayor Bill VanSuch said he received 14 r sum s for the $41,800 job now held by Sherman Miles, who has been finance director since October 2009.
VanSuch announced last month he was searching for a new finance director. Miles has been slow to reconcile monthly bank statements to the city’s books. The state auditor’s office reconciled January and February books from 2010. Miles reconciled the March 2010 statement with help from a consultant he paid out of his own pocket, and the April 2010 statement was reconciled by a private accountant after the city authorized up to $1,000 to pay her.
The backlog of reconciliations is now at May 2010, VanSuch said.
On the short list to replace Miles is Michael Evanson, who retired last year from his post as treasurer for the Struthers City School District; Walter J. Tomich, a bank vice president; John Klimko, a former finance assistant for Youngstown who now works for the Regional Income Tax Agency in Youngstown; and Andrew Rauzan, a detective- sergeant in the Campbell Police Department.
Evanson, of Struthers, was Struthers schools treasurer from 1996 to the end of 2011. His r sum also includes treasurer posts at Strongsville City Schools, Ashtabula Area City Schools and Southern Local Schools in Salineville. He has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Hiram College; a master’s in public administration from Bowling Green State University; a master’s in business administration from Ashland University; and a doctor of education from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Tomich, of Poland, is a vice president at Huntington National Bank in Youngstown where he administers retirement plans. He also was a vice president at Key Corp., N.A., in Youngstown, where he administered retirement plans and developed new business opportunities. He also was a vice president at First National Bank in Hermitage, Pa., where he worked in the controllers department and also managed the trust department. He has a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master’s degree in accounting, both from Youngstown State University.
Klimko, of Hubbard, was a finance assistant in Youngstown from June 2008 to March 2011. His r sum indicates he was a project leader for a financial reporting transition and a project leader for a records retention policy; he verified revenues and expenses, prepared bank deposits, audited bank transactions and processed daily transactions from the public. He began working for RITA in March 2011, also working as a bartender from April 2011 to July 2011. He has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from YSU, with a major in finance.
Rauzan works fulltime for the police department. He has worked as a legal assistant/law clerk for the city; a research and teaching graduate assistant for YSU’s Criminal Justice Department; an adjunct instructor of criminal justice for ITT Technical Institute; and an adjunct professor of criminal justice for Penn State University’s Shenango Campus. He has a bachelor’s degree in history from YSU; a master’s degree in criminal justice from YSU; and a juris doctorate from Cleveland State University. He intends to sit for the Ohio Bar exam in February.
The mayor will recommend one of the four to the city council, which will vote on the recommendation.
VanSuch, Miles and council President George Levendis also are working to comply with a directive to set a timetable for bringing the bank reconciliations up to date.
The chairwoman of a state commission that oversees the city while it is in fiscal emergency has told the city it must set a schedule for having them finished by the next commission meeting which is Feb. 6.
VanSuch and Levendis said that representatives from the state auditor’s office are helping, and if the reconciliations themselves aren’t finished by Feb. 6, a schedule will be. The city also must submit a schedule for when it will correct accounting and policy deficiencies noted by the auditor’s office.