Charter review flags gaps in finance director rules; commission asks staff to draft incapacity language

The Charter Review Commission reviewed the Stow City Charter provisions that govern the director of finance and identified drafting gaps the commission said should be fixed before recommendations go to city council.

Commission members focused on three practical issues: the director's formal qualifications; the certificate-of-available-funds role in contract approvals; and an absence of clear rules for an acting finance director during temporary incapacity.

Commission discussion and staff explanation

Staff reviewed Section 6.01 through 6.08, noting that the charter currently requires the finance director to be a qualified elector who holds a bachelor's degree in accounting, finance, economics or public administration and at least five years' management experience in accounting or finance. The director must devote full time to the office, though "full time" is not defined in the charter. The director examines municipal accounts, prepares the annual budget and signs the certificate of available funds that appears on city contracts.

Commissioners asked how those duties interact with the mayor's responsibility to submit the proposed operating and capital budget; staff replied the mayor prepares the budget, the finance director advises on affordability and the council has authority to alter appropriations. The finance director's certification is an internal check that an appropriation exists before a contract is signed; staff noted council may still approve borrowing or other actions to fund a project.

Vacancy, appointments and incapacity

The charter gives the mayor up to 75 days to appoint a temporary replacement when the office becomes vacant; an appointee serves until the next municipal election unless the vacancy occurs within a narrow window before the filing-deadline, in which case the appointee may serve the remainder of the term. The commission discussed the charter's residency-waiver practice: council may confirm an appointee even if the residency requirement is not yet met for the remainder of the term.

Commissioners and staff pointed out a drafting gap: a clause giving the assistant or deputy immediate acting power appears in the vacancy section and therefore applies only after a vacancy (death, resignation, recall or removal). There is no analogous, explicit provision for temporary incapacity (medical leave, temporary unavailability). The commission heard that earlier this year the city relied on a signed memo delegating signatory authority while the finance director recovered from a medical condition, but that memo did not make the designee the acting finance director for purposes that require an official title.

Operational detail: assistant director position

Staff also noted the assistant director-general position is currently not filled and was removed from the payroll table when the prior post-holder retired. The result is a potential "no person in the line" situation: if the assistant position remains vacant and the director becomes incapacitated, the charter as drafted would not automatically vest acting authority in a named successor. The finance director has proposed restoring the assistant position to the payroll table.

Commission direction

Commissioners asked staff to draft concise charter language mirroring the mayor's acting-mayor provisions to cover temporary incapacity for the finance director (and a parallel change for the law director). Commissioners emphasized any draft should be simple and narrowly tailored to preserve the policy choices already in the charter (vacancy timelines, residency waivers and confirmation by council). No formal vote was taken; the commission expects to review a draft amendment at a future meeting.

Ending

The commission moved on after staff said it would prepare a brief draft describing (1) an explicit temporary-incapacity trigger for acting authority, (2) language restoring or clarifying the assistant director-general position, and (3) cross-references showing that the assistant's acting authority applies both on vacancy and on temporary incapacity.