BRENT B. BEAN II
WESTFIELD – At-large Councilor Brent B. Bean II, the chairman of the Personnel Action Committee (PAC), hopes to present a City Treasurer candidate for appointment at the Oct. 4 City Council session.
Bean said yesterday that he anticipates conducting interviews next week prior to the City Council meeting Thursday.
A review committee, composed of city officers, is preparing to present a short list of candidates. The city received 17 applications for hopeful candidates for the post that has been held for nearly 30 years by Greg I. Kallfa who is retiring in October. Kallfa was hired 28 years ago to serve as the city’s Collector/Treasurer. Those two positions were separated into independent departments in 1999 when Michael McMahon was hired to serve as the City Collector.
The review committee, composed of Kallfa, Assistant Personnel Director Jeff Krok, City Auditor Deborah Strycharz, Susan Phillips of the Law Department, and Paul Pasterczyk, the Longmeadow Finance Director interviewed eight of those applicants and is expected to present the short list of finalists to the PAC today.
The city wants to hire a new treasurer before Kallfa leaves office, so there will be an overlap to ensure a smooth transition. The post, which has evolved extensively during Kallfa’s tenure in office, requires both a technical skill set, as well as knowledge of the local, state and federal laws regulating municipal finances.
The treasurer’s appointment is one of several made directly by the City Council. Other council-appointed posts include the city clerk, auditor, purchasing director, an attorney and collector.
Bean said that he hopes to conduct the PAC interviews with applicants on Tuesday or Wednesday, perhaps both days depending on the number of candidates presented by the screening committee.
“Once I hear from Jeff (Krok), we’ll schedule a meeting of the PAC to have the interviews,” Bean said “I hope to do that Wednesday, if we get three candidates, but we may have to have two meetings if we get four or more candidates so we can make a recommendation of the council on Oct. 4.”
Bean said he will solicit questions from the City Council members prior to the interview session.
“I’ll submit those questions to the Law and Personnel departments to make sure they are allowed under state law regulating the interview and hiring process,” Bean said.
“Those laws exist so that all of the base questions presented to the candidate are uniform,” he said. “The follow up questions can be tailored to the responses of the individual candidates.”
Bean said the personal questions “not pertinent” to the duties and functions of job cannot be presented to candidates.
Bean said that the selection process is behind the initial schedule to have a candidate hired during September to maximize the transition time with Kallfa.
“We have not hired many people during my tenure, there have been just three City Council appointments over the last 12 years,” Bean said. “But this process (with a review committee identifying the candidates for PAC interviews) worked very well when we hired the purchasing director, so why change the it?”
