FinCom:Council should digest advice

Members emphasize review of state recommendations

By Owen Boss

GARDNER — Finance Committee members decided city councilors would need more time to consider the Department of Revenue’s financial review of the city’s infrastructure before making any permanent decisions. The review, which was conducted at the request of Mayor Mark Hawke, had 31 suggestions for the city, including giving the mayor appointment authority over all financial offices, combining the positions of treasurer and tax collector, going to a biweekly payroll and establishing a financial management team that meets on a monthly basis. Mr. Hawke recommended that an official from the department appear at an informal meeting of City Council to explain to councilors how implementing the changes could improve the way City Hall functions. “The Department of Revenue is willing come out and do a presentation with the city councilors during a special meeting,” said Mr. Hawke. However, members on the council thought it would be in the best interest of the city to allow officials ample time to review the findings and consider the changes. “I think people need to digest the information because they’ve just recently received copies of it,” said Mr. Cormier. “They might need to get some red ink on it but I would not be adverse to them making a presentation about it, it might help.” Councilor Kim Dembrosky said she worried that the department presentation would only be available one time, and could leave the councilors with several unanswered questions. “They wouldn’t be willing to come back a second time if we had questions after the discussion,” Ms. Dembrosky said. “I think people should be able to chat about this in their committees before coming up with those questions.” Mr. Hawke said he realized the importance of providing the councilors the opportunity to review the report and mentioned that some of the recommendations didn’t require council approval. “Some of these changes require council approval, some of them require charter changes and some of them we can start making today,” said Mr. Hawke. oboss@thegardnernews.com

Appeared on Page 1 on 10/3/2008 (Vol. 206 No. 234)