Administration argues for new finance, compliance and ombudsman roles to tighten grant management and training

At the FY27 first-reading presentation district finance staff described operational gaps the administration says the proposed roles would address.

Mister Pettit explained the proposed director of finance would focus on operational management of grants and a district finance training program to reduce recurring accounting errors: “One of the priorities of this position was to direct operations, stay on top of the special revenue funds that are expansive, alleviate some of the burden of the reporting requirements,” he said. Pettit told trustees the three roles under discussion together represented roughly $422,000 in general‑fund impact; he said better grant oversight could reduce ineligible charges and unclaimed funds that ultimately hit the general fund.

Board members probed whether training current staff first might be a better investment than creating new roles immediately. Administration responded that some escalation of roles plus training are complementary steps; the board ultimately approved funding for only the compliance coordinator during post-executive-session action.