After losing third treasurer in a year, Marine City officials to consider new contract
After the departure of a third treasurer in a year, Marine City officials are poised to sign off on another replacement at Thursday’s City Commission meeting.
However, no proposed employment agreement was attached to the agenda online.
Earlier this week, City Manager Holly Tatman said they were still in the process of finalizing a new contract after interviewing candidates and hoped to have something for commissioners.
Tatman declined to comment on the nature of the exit of the previous treasurer, Tiffany Weatherly, after commissioners were reportedly notified of the departure in late July. She also declined to comment more regarding the candidate being considered.
“Internal things like that I try to keep internal,” Tatman said, citing personnel concerns. Still, she admitted she may answer specific questions from commissioners in public Thursday.
Weatherly, whose contract was OK’d by commissioners on June 16, declined to comment on Wednesday when reached by phone. Mayor Cheryl Vercammen also didn’t immediately return a call this week.
Although the cause of Weatherly’s departure was unclear, Marine City officials have previously remarked over the level of expertise the finance job requires. According to meeting minutes, Commissioner Lisa Hendrick talked about her concern about the volume and difficulty of work for the treasurer in June. At the time, Tatman said city office staff was cross-training to ensure extra checks and balances to assist when Weatherly was incoming.
Both Weatherly and her immediate predecessor Rachel Gottler had contracts with salaries of $68,500 and $68,000, respectively.
Weatherly came in with a supervisory accounts payable background at two Michigan firms and other accounting experience in Las Vegas, Nevada, while Gottler had accounting and payroll manager experience with a professional employer organization in St. Clair.
Gottler had been appointed at a special meeting on April 12. But Tatman reported her resignation in mid-May.
The first treasurer and finance director to depart in the last year was Megan Pearce, who had been put on leave last fall amid an ongoing debate among commissioners about issues communicated out of the office during the hiring process for Tatman as the new city manager.
Pearce later departed, and the city brought in professional accounting services by the end of 2021 to help in the treasurer’s department, working with former city finance official Mary Ellen McDonald, according to meeting minutes.
Marine City commissioners will meet at 7 p.m. on Thursday at the Guy Community Center, 260 S. Parker St. Agenda materials are traditionally available at https://www.cityofmarinecity.org/city-commission.
Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @Jackie20Smith.
This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: After losing third treasurer in a year, Marine City officials to consider new contract
