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LaSalle County finance committee debates scope and reporting line for proposed finance director
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Summary
LaSalle County finance committee members debated whether to create a separate finance director/CFO role and how it would overlap with the county auditor’s duties, directing staff to gather job descriptions and invite an outside finance director to brief the committee.
LaSalle County finance committee members spent most of their April 1 meeting debating whether to create a standalone finance director/Chief Financial Officer position and, if created, which duties it should carry.
The committee did not vote to create the position. Instead the group directed staff to collect job descriptions, compare options and invite Chris Balkema, who previously served as Grundy County finance director, to brief the committee at a future meeting (target: April 24). Finance Committee Chair Tina Bush said members should “put pen to paper and spell out what we think we need.”
Committee members who favored a separate finance director said the county needs forward-looking budgeting, monthly trial balances, cash-flow forecasting and dedicated grant-seeking and management. “I want a trial balance by month of last year, actual numbers,” said Craig Emmett, a finance committee member, saying monthly detail is needed to build a budget that reflects timing of grant receipts and bills. Steve Aubrey added that a finance director should report to the committee and help departments with forecasting.
Other members, including Areida Zinecki, raised concerns about overlapping duties with unionized staff in the auditor’s office. “Some of these duties are assigned to my union staff,” Zinecki said, warning that removing duties without clearly redefining positions could cause workplace conflict. Gary Small urged careful delineation of responsibilities, noting that counties take different approaches and that the committee should be specific about which duties belong to the finance director and which remain with the auditor.
Several members described the current load placed on the auditor’s office and said the county needs someone to relieve day-to-day transactional work so auditors can focus on verification and controls. “The job of the auditors [is to] make sure my numbers are right so I don’t have to second-guess anything,” Emmett said.
Committee direction: staff will assemble the job descriptions requested when the committee previously asked for a finance director role, identify comparable local job descriptions, and invite the Grundy County finance director to present practical examples to the group. Amanda (staff) and Auditor Stephanie were asked to help compile materials. No hiring action or budget appropriation was taken at the meeting.
The committee agreed to schedule a follow-up meeting in late April to review the outside finance-director candidate’s presentation and the compiled job descriptions before deciding whether to recommend creating the position to the full board.
Ending: Members emphasized process: agree a clear set of duties first, then decide on a title and recruitment approach, and avoid cutting existing employees’ assigned duties without rewriting job descriptions.
