Tim Ryan, tryan@wolfrivermedia.com
City officials are still in negotiations with their choice to fill a newly created finance director position whose time would be split between City Hall and Shawano Municipal Utilities.
“We’re working on it. There’s nothing to report right now,” said Brian Knapp, city administrator and SMU general manager. “We’re negotiating and we hope that they’ll accept.”
The Common Council and the SMU Commission held a joint meeting in closed session Monday to discuss negotiations.
The finance director would initially work with and under SMU finance manager Nancy Schauer, who is planning to retire early next year, according to Knapp, before assuming those duties and taking on some of the financial duties at City Hall, including a leading role in budget development and preparation.
Knapp said it was always envisioned that an additional finance post would be needed to offset some of the financial responsibilities being handled by his office and the city clerk/treasurer.
The current arrangement has not caused any serious problems, according to Knapp, but it has caused delays of things such as meeting reporting requirements for the city’s tax incremental finance districts and debt service.
The finance director post was advertised at a salary range of $75,000 to $85,000.
The city took two stabs at advertising for the position. There were no applicants for the job in the first round.