Brent B. Bean II
WESTFIELD – The chairman of the City Council Personnel Action Committee said the city hopes to identify a candidate for the position of city treasurer this fall, to allow for a transition.
Greg I. Kallfa, who has held that position for nearly three decades, plans to retire in October.
PAC chairman Brent B. Bean II said the city wants to hire a new treasurer before Kallfa leaves office, so there will be an overlap to ensure a smooth transition.
“If everything goes to plan, the timetable is to give the new hire at least a month with Greg,” Bean said. “We do have money in the budget to allow Greg to stick around after he retires so we have his input for the new individual.”
Bean said that the post requires both a technical skill set, as well as knowledge of the local, state and federal laws regulating municipal finances.
Bean said the city can’t replace Kallfa, who was initially hired as the city’s Treasurer-Collector until the two positions were separated in 1999, but is confident that the new job description for that post will attract a field of qualified candidates.
“Not many towns and cities have had someone who built the office, someone who served the community for 28 years,” Bean said.
The appointment will be made by the City Council through a process that will include a screening committee, composed of City Hall officials, as well as the PAC, to make a recommendation to the full council.
“We approved a revised job description recently and the Personnel Department posted the position last week,” Bean said.
Kallfa, City Auditor Deborah Strycharz and Human Resource Assistant Director Jeffrey Krok will serve on that screening committee.
“We want the City Hall officers who will have to work with the new treasurer on a daily basis to be involved in the selection process. It makes sense,” Bean said. “The City Council doesn’t hire individuals on a daily basis, which is why we will rely on the officers. During my tenure on the council, since 2001, we’ve gone through this process three times.
“The PAC will be part of that initial screening process, the same process that we’ve followed when we hired (Purchasing Director) Tammy Tefft,” Bean said.
“We just don’t know how many applicants will seek the post. We hope to have a strong field of candidates. That’s why we changed the job description, to make it broad enough to capture the greatest number of applicants,” he said.
Bean said that he hopes the screening committee will identify three to five qualified candidates for consideration by the PAC.
“In theory, I’d like to see the PAC select one individual to bring that name forward to the City Council,” Bean said. “But anybody could get nominated by a councilor from the floor.”
Bean said that all of the application documents will be available to the City Council members.
“The councilors will have all of the information on all of those who apply,” Bean said.
