The City of Estevan has found what appears to be a solution for its city treasurer vacancy.
Jeff Ward will hold both the city manager and city treasurer positions. Ward had been the city’s treasurer since the summer of 2013, and was hired to be the full-time city manager last December, after having stints as the acting city manager in 2013 and 2015.
He has continued to hold the city treasurer position for the last seven months, while a search occurred for a new treasurer.
The city received some applications for the treasurer position, but none that were viewed as suitable for the role. So Ward will now hold down the city manager and city treasurer portfolios, while Trudy Firth has been hired as the city’s new financial controller.
“Trudy has been working here for the last year, covering a maternity leave for our payroll department,” said Ward. “When we were talking about filling the city treasurer position, she was very interested in it.”
Firth has both municipal and private sector accounting experience.
“She caught onto the systems very well, and any accounting-type tasks seem to have gone quite well,” said Ward.
He noted this arrangement will continue for the foreseeable future, but it could change further down the road.
“Council has the confidence in me, and some of the stuff that has happened in the last couple of years financially,” said Ward.
Firth will be responsible for the day-to-day tasks, the monitoring of accounts and monthly reporting. She will also take on a leadership role during budget time, and help the management team follow the budget throughout the year.
Ward will continue to have a leadership role with the budget.
Firth has a bachelor of commerce with a major in accounting from the University of Alberta. She worked with Alberta Power, Luscar Coal, the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission, and with an oilfield company as their financial controller, before moving to the City of Estevan to fill in during a maternity leave.
She has also worked for the Flagstaff County in east-central Alberta. While working there, she obtained a certificate in local government.
“I was very excited to take on the role of city controller here,” said Firth. “These last eight months, working in payroll, gave me a great opportunity to meet almost all of the city employees. I really enjoy working with them. I think they’re a great bunch of people.
“I’m really anxious to get into my new position and take control of things. I’m really detail-oriented, and I just want to get a handle on everything that’s in there and watch the money.”
Since she will be handling the day-to-day tasks, it should ease the amount of work Ward has faced when tackling the two jobs.
He noted that one of the reasons council opted for this direction is their belief that Estevan doesn’t need two people in management who are certified professional accounts (CPA). Ward is a CPA.
Ward also expects these moves should result in a cost savings for the city, because it will cost less money to have him as the city manager and treasurer, and have Firth as the controller, than to have him as the manager, and someone else is the treasurer role.
