Stow City discusses charter language to clarify who serves as acting finance and law directors

Stow City officials spent part of a council meeting reviewing proposed changes to the city charter that would spell out who serves as acting finance director and acting law director when those officials are temporarily unable to perform their duties. The council also approved the prior meeting's minutes by voice vote.

The changes presented by Drew, a city staff member, would add a provision to the charter's acting-finance-director section (listed in discussion as "6.6.08") naming the assistant director of the general division as the person who "shall become the acting finance director with all the powers of the finance director in the event the finance director is temporarily absent from the municipality, inaccessible, unable for any cause or reason to perform the duties of the finance director." Drew described that wording as mirroring language the council previously discussed for an acting mayor while removing a clause tied to how a vacancy is declared.

Drew also reviewed the provision the discussion identified as the acting-law-director section (referred to in the meeting as "907"). He said the law department is structured differently from most city departments: "the deputy law director is the number 2 in the office. That's who becomes acting law director," with the same "inaccessible, unable to, for any cause or reason or absent from the municipality" standard for stepping in.

Staff told the council the specific job title referenced for the finance succession'"director of general division"'does not currently exist in the city's job chart. Council members and staff said that job classification was removed roughly two years ago after it had been limited earlier; one participant said the classification had been taken out of the job schedule about two years ago and that related changes occurred several years prior. That gap prompted discussion about drafting fallback language to cover situations when the referenced position is not filled.

Council members and staff described how the city handled a past finance-director absence: a memo temporarily delegated signatory authority to another official (identified in the meeting as "Steve") so routine bills could be processed, but staff said certain fiscal actions'such as bond certifications or items that legally must be certified by the fiscal officer'required the finance director's actual physical signature. Staff noted a prior absence of the finance director lasting "about six weeks" after a medical emergency as the impetus for clarifying who can act in the director's stead.

Kyle, a member of the Stow City Council, confirmed there is currently an initiative to restore the referenced job classification to the city's job chart so the charter language would align with existing titles. Council discussion included a suggestion that the charter could add a sentence allowing the mayor to appoint an acting director when the referenced position is unfilled until the vacancy is filled.

Separately, the council approved the previous meeting's minutes after a motion and second; the approval was recorded by voice as "Aye." Individual roll-call votes or a full tally were not recorded in the transcript excerpt.

Council members did not take a formal vote during the excerpted discussion to adopt changes to the charter sections; the discussion focused on wording, gaps created by the missing job classification, and interim signatory practices. Staff indicated they will return with revised language and that human-resources or job-chart changes are already being pursued to reconcile titles with the proposed charter provisions.