Albert Lea, Austin to discontinue shared finance director
Published 4:46 pm Wednesday, April 6, 2011
By Sarah Stultz and Amanda Lillie
Austin and Albert Lea will no longer be sharing the services of a finance director.
According to a news release sent out Wednesday, both cities have decided to discontinue the shared services agreement for Finance Director Tom Dankert, after sharing him about a month in both cities.
City council members in Albert Lea and Austin initially voted to approve the shared services agreement in late February; however, both cities have decided the arrangement is not practical.
“Trying to do two full-time jobs with one person was much, much more difficult than we envisioned,” Interim Albert Lea City Manager Pat McGarvey said.
Under the agreement, Dankert had the flexibility to work on each city’s business per his own determination and would not receive any additional salary.
“The concept of sharing municipal staff is attractive, but sharing the time of the finance director between two municipal corporations is not working out during these times of financial upheaval in municipal government,” Austin City Administrator Jim Hurm said in a press release.
The arrangement, which had been active for about a month, was also not working because the two cities have differing financial systems, as well as similar financial deadlines, which would leave Dankert scrambling to complete necessary tasks.
Though the arrangement was an answer to the vacancy in Albert Lea’s finance director position, McGarvey said the city will likely go back to paying consultant firm AEM Financial Solutions in lieu of a finance director — at least until new Albert Lea City Manager Chad Adams begins in June.
The city had been paying AEM Financial Solutions to come into Albert Lea one day per week, plus give time in its home office, after former Finance Director Rhonda Moen accepted a job as finance director in Owatonna in October 2010.
The firm was being paid $110 to $120 per hour and $60 per hour for travel time to and from Albert Lea.
“We appreciate this trial opportunity given by the city of Austin to share these services, and we wish to thank Mr. Dankert for his excellent work,” McGarvey said.