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Acting chief financial officer appointment

At a glance

Based on auto-generated captions; names and details may be misheard.

  • What: late-added resolutions 10.34 (appoint the comptroller as acting chief financial officer) and 10.35 (designate official signatories) after the finance director and CFO's last day on Friday, October 16.
  • Where it stands: appointment and signatory resolutions adopted 9-0 on Oct 21.
  • Why it matters: the CFO must sign city financial documents, so the city needs an acting officer quickly.

Caucus discussion (October 19)

  • Staton is the city's comptroller and would also be acting CFO; the assistant finance director would act as finance director. Both would receive acting pay.
  • The administration said state law allows an acting CFO for up to a year (extendable to three) when the person is not yet certified, and DCA wants council approval. Staton said she has finished the CFO classes and applied to take the exam next month.
  • Council members asked for the salary numbers. They recalled that the council raised the salary cap to about $250,000 for one person filling both roles, and said the promised conversation about future pay did not happen. The administration said the acting increases come to roughly half of the departed official's salary.
  • Postings for permanent finance director and CFO are up. One member said internal staff should get a chance before outside posting; the administration said internal candidates can apply.
  • Ridley and others reminded the administration to get items on the agenda on time; Nolan noted statutory officers must be in place to sign off.
  • Resolution 10.35 depends on 10.34 and would be withdrawn if the appointment failed.

Council meeting (October 21)

  • Two late items were added 7-0 (with Griffin and Ridley not yet seated): resolution 26-716 (item 10.34) appointing Staton as acting chief financial officer, and resolution 26-717 (item 10.35) designating the city's official signatories. A brief tie over who seconded the motion for 10.35 was settled in favor of Lavarro.
  • Both were adopted 9-0 in the final block. Brooks and Singh congratulated Staton (captioned "Widia" and similar); Brooks thanked her for leading the Hispanic Heritage Month Committee.
  • Zuppa and Lavarro said their concern was salary levels, not the appointee: they recalled that the council raised the salary ordinance to attract top experience, said paying less-experienced staff in a budget crisis is unwise, and urged the administration to be cautious on salaries and hiring. Lavarro suggested revisiting the salary ordinance.

Sources

Discussion time

About 26 minutes across 2 meetings (from transcript timestamps; approximate).

Meeting Minutes
2026-10-21 - Municipal Council 6
2026-10-19 - Municipal Caucus 20

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