WESTON -- After an executive session of about 20 minutes, Weston City Council on Friday accepted the resignation of Finance Manager Golden Hamrick.
Councilman Charlie Hathaway made the motion to "regretfully" accept Hamrick's resignation, "releasing him of all liabilities with the city." The motion also included paying Hamrick for all benefits accrued during his service.
Council is expected to hire a temporary person to help with the finance manager's duties sometime next week. The permanent position will be advertised for a week, with Council hoping to hire a replacement soon, said Mayor Jon Tucci.
"This is something that needs to be taken care of fairly quickly, especially with July 1 starting a new fiscal year," said City Manager Dan Minney.
Minney said it will be important to get a temporary worker in the office as soon as possible. He and City Clerk Barbara Blake will be "helping with invoices and other day-to-day things," he said.
"I think it's probably more than one person can do," he said, responding to a question whether he would consider tackling the duties of city manager and finance manager.
Another reason it's important to get someone in the office as soon as possible is because the city's payroll comes out Friday. Weston has about 30 employees.
Also, the city is right in the middle of the business and occupation tax cycle, which Tucci called "the lifeblood of the city."
Unlike previous vacancies, hiring a new finance manager will be handled by council, not the employee search committee. Tucci said he appreciated the committee's hard work and dedication in hiring other department heads, but timing is crucial.
In previous hires, it's sometimes taken up to a couple of months to go through the process of advertising, accepting resumés, interviewing candidates and making a recommendation to council.
"This position is too important to set up another committee and go through all that," Tucci said.
Metro Editor Jim Fisher can be reached at 626-1446 or by e-mail at jfisher@exponent-telegram.com
