City leaders departing in trying times

The upcoming departures of Finance Director Lori Fleming and City Manager Bill Watkins mean the two officials most involved in budget development will be gone in the spring when the city starts to prepare its annual financial plan.
Fiscal Year 2012, which begins next fall, is expected to be one of the most difficult budget years for local governments since the recession began, and Columbia will have two new faces at the helm to guide the process.
Fleming is resigning, effective Dec. 3, to take a job as an advisor to the Honduran Finance Ministry. The position is through the US Treasury Department’s Office of Technical Assistance, and Fleming will spend the next three years helping the Honduran government comply with International Public Sector Accounting Standards.
Fleming said she found the opening through a posting on the Government Finance Officers Association website, and her transition has “been in the works for quite a while.” Fleming will begin training in Washington, D.C., in December and move to Honduras in January. “I think it’s a good fit,” she said.
After the expiration of her three-year assignment, Fleming said she hopes to find another similar project through Treasury’s program.
Watkins said Fleming, who has served as finance director since 1995, will leave the city in a good financial position.
“Especially over the last few years as sales tax revenue has declined, Lori designed a financial plan to maintain stability and avoid drama,” Watkins said in a news release. “That helped us maintain our bond ratings, meet our budget and continue to improve city services. We will miss her.”
Fleming’s departure also comes just as the city is preparing to reform its employee pension funds. Like many plans, the city’s liabilities are outpacing the funds revenues, and the city has been upping its annual contributions to meet future payments, a situation exacerbated by the market crashes in 2007 and 2008. Fleming’s department makes the funds’ investment decisions.
Fleming said her departure shouldn’t have any effect on the city’s effort to reform the pension funds.
“There’s no one person who’s indispensable in this organization,” she said.
Columbia Human Resources Director Margrace Buckler is concerned about the amount of institutional knowledge the city is losing with Fleming’s departure.
“Part of it’s just bad timing, but timing’s never good,” Buckler said. “I think the finance director is a really major role.”
In the past several weeks, Fleming, Watkins and Fire Chief Bill Markgraf have all announced they would be leaving the city, which has prompted expensive searches for replacements.
The city is already receiving applications from candidates interested in the fire chief position, Buckler said. Columbia’s Fire Department is widely regarded as one of the better run departments in the state, she said, so she expects many qualified candidates to compete for the job.
Buckler said her department will look for a finance director replacement through the Government Finance Officers Association and hopes to have potential candidates ready for interviews by the end of the year.
To find a replacement for Watkins, the city will be enlisting the services of an executive search firm. In a special work session Nov. 8, the City Council interviewed three firms vying for the job.
The Council indicated it would likely vote to select Affion Public to run the search at its upcoming meeting, Nov. 15. Watkins has indicated he will resign his post in early March.