Going into 2024, Framingham has several city finance positions that it must fill

FRAMINGHAM — Going into the New Year, the city will be without a chief financial officer, city accountant or assistant city accountant.

CFO Louise Miller submitted her resignation to Mayor Charlie Sisitsky last week, with Sisitsky telling the City Council last Friday that Miller would leave at year's end.

Miller’s resignation comes after other departures in key finance roles in the city earlier his year; City Accountant Richard Howarth resigned over the summer and City Assistant Accountant Dawn DiVito resigned in October. Both of those positions remain vacant, with Miller noting during a November City Council meeting that the reason they haven't been filled is because the city is not offering competitive salaries.

Earlier: Louise Miller to resign as Framingham's CFO, effective Dec. 31

During Tuesday's council meeting, District 3 City Councilor Adam Steiner asked Sisitsky how the city will fill Miller’s position, specifically whether Assistant CFO Jennifer Pratt would take over some of Miller's duties.

“What is the plan for either temporarily filling the position, and whether Ms. Pratt is going to be filling that role, and obviously posting the position, because obviously our finance department is already short-staffed?” Steiner asked.

Sisitsky said he had not gone over the details with Pratt yet, but that she would take over some of the duties.

“We are working on that," the mayor said. "I haven’t had the chance to work on the details or speak to Ms. Pratt, so I don’t want to get too far in front of that. But she will be part of at least the temporary operation operating the finance department going forward. We have our temporary accountant in place and we are working on other options to ensure that all of the financial operations of the city stay intact.”

Despite the losses in staffing, Sisitsky said he remains confident the city will be able to accomplish all of its accounting needs.

“We are confident we will be able to provide the services that we need to provide, at least in the short term, and definitely in the long term,” he said.

Councilors concerned public comments directed at city employees are scaring off candidates

Miller and the city’s Finance Department had been under fire in recent months from members of the council’s Finance Subcommittee regarding several issues, including having the budget be presented online to the general public and general information reports. In a Nov. 21 meeting, District 4 City Councilor Michael Cannon, a member of the Finance Subcommittee, expressed frustration that the city was not engaging in transparent spending.

“If the Finance Subcommittee of the City Council — which is charged by the charter to handle stewardship of the finances in the city — can’t get this basic information about how we spend our money, that isn’t transparent,” he said at the time.

District 7 City Councilor Leora Mallach said at Tuesday's council meeting that she was concerned that the way Miller has been treated during past council meetings may deter qualified candidates from applying to fill the role.

“I worry that anybody that might be interested in that position would watch some of the recent council meetings and Finance Subcommittee meetings and not want to subject themselves to those kinds of conversations,” Mallach said.

District 4 Councilor Michael Cannon tells mayor, 'There is a lot to clean up, it looks like'

Cannon said Tuesday that following Miller's resignation, there is a lot of work to do to fix the city’s financial issues.

“As time went on, we noticed a number of serious deficiencies in basic finance control and other issues that have been discussed publicly as well,” he said to Sisitsky. “I’m sure you will keep the public and the council in the loop on plans to kind of right that ship. There is a lot to clean up, it looks like.”

Steiner agreed with Mallach, expressing concern that the council has developed a habit of being publicly critical of city employees, saying it has led to some of the vacancies.

“There has been a pattern with this council treating public employees overly critically in public ways, and I think it is a dangerous situation and it has led to good people leaving, and good people not wanting to come here,” he said.

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Framingham CFO, accountant and assistant accountant have all resigned