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03/05/2019 12:52 PMFor third time in three years, Clinton has a new interim finance director. After an executive session at the Feb. 27 Board of Selectmen (BOS) meeting, the board announced that Sue Cunningham, the assistant treasurer for the town, has been hired to be the town’s interim finance director.
First Selectman Christine Goupil said Cunningham has been “a stable voice in our finance office and is extremely knowledge and committed to the town.”
The finance director is responsible for all managing financial aspects of the town, including financial planning, reporting, debt management, internal auditing, grant administration, and advising in collective bargaining.
“It’s one of the most important positions in town. Having the right person is paramount,” Goupil said.
Goupil added that the town will now need to fill Cunningham’s previous position.
Cunningham was highly recommended by Clinton’s two most recent interim finance directors, Linda Savitsky and Dawn Norton, according to Goupil.
Goupil said that Savitsky recognized that Cunningham had been performing some duties that a finance director normally does, and encouraged her to fill the position. In a letter to the BOS, Norton cited Cunningham’s understanding of the inner workings of the town departments and the public schools as valuable skills needed for the job. Norton also praised Cunningham’s stability and leadership in keeping the Finance Department running through the constant turnover in the office.
Turnover is nothing new when it comes to Clinton’s search for a finance director. In 2017, Norton was hired on an interim basis until a full-time candidate could be found; she moved to a part-time, remote role in early 2018. In summer 2018, the town began working with Savitsky to assess the department and assist with the hiring of a fulltime candidate.
It looked as though the town had its fulltime director in fall 2018 when Richard McArdle had been selected as the new finance director by the BOS. However, at a Sept. 12 BOS meeting, Goupil read into the record a letter she addressed to then-Board of Finance chairman John Olsen that stated that McArdle had rescinded his acceptance of the finance director position before even beginning to work. The letter stated that an unnamed member or members of the BOF had “interfered in the hiring process of new staff. They contacted references and did not disclose those conversations with the first selectman or the Board of Finance.”
The incident eventually led to a heated argument among the members of the BOF and resulted in Olsen storming out of a meeting and resigning after a vocal outburst at his fellow board members.
The town then hired Savitsky in October as an interim finance director to work for several months and assess the department further while the town prepared to search for a new full-time director. Savitsky left her role in Clinton on Feb. 22 to become the deputy treasurer for the State of Connecticut.