City district still looking for a treasurer

The office has been handled by temporary and interim treasurers

youngstown schools treasurer search

Youngstown

The city school board didn’t succeed at first in finding a new treasurer so it continues to try, try again.

Richard Atkinson, school board president, said the board plans to advertise for the position again. It will be the third time the job has been posted.

“A treasurer is very important to a district,” he said.

The former treasurer William Johnson announced in late 2011 his plans to retire at the end of the 2011-12 school year. The district advertised to fill the post, and by April it had a list of four finalists. The Academic Distress Commission last May, however, without explanation placed the treasurer on paid administrative leave through the remainder of his contract which expired in July 2012.

The panel also directed the school district to re-advertise for the job, effectively disregarding the four finalists.

The treasurer from the Mahoning County Career and Technical Center was appointed interim treasurer and worked in the district through the summer. Assistant treasurers continue to run the office and the commission has appointed a fiscal monitor to work in the district a few days per week.

Last August, the school board, with help from a search firm, had narrowed to three another set of finalists. One of those candidates also had been on the previous finalist list.

Atkinson said the board couldn’t afford the pay and benefits package requested by the one finalist. He declined to discuss the other two.

The job postings haven’t specified a salary, but Johnson earned about $84,000 annually.