Township Committee Hires Firm To Handle CFO Duties

After trying in vain to hire a chief financial officer to handle the township's finances, local officials have opted to hire a firm, instead of an individual, to handle the duties.

Last week, the Township Committee passed a resolution to hire Government Strategy Group of New Providence for financial management services.

"It's an outside consulting firm," Commissioner Kevin Campbell said during the meeting. "I don't believe that everyone on the Township Committee necessarily thought this was a great idea, but unfortunately, we had no choice. We were unable to find an individual CFO."

The decision to hire the firm was unanimous among members of the governing body.

On May 10, 2011, the Township Committee voted to lay off Chief Financial Officer Jeff Theriault. Theriault took on the CFO position last July after Tom Grady - the Cranford CFO for 20 years - retired.

Officials advertised the open CFO position and reviewed several applications. None of the candidates met the criteria that the governing body was seeking. Officials said that either the candidates were not qualified or they accepted similar positions in other municipalities.

"The result is that we've had to go to the Government Strategy Group fror the remainder of this year and we'll see where we are sometime late in the year and perhaps early next year," Campbell said.

According to the contract approved by the Township Committee in a resolution, the Government Strategy Group will be paid a fee "not to exceed $100,800."

Although commissioners ideally were hoping to hire an individual, rather than a firm, to handle the CFO duties, they said one of the perks of have a group at their disposal is the availability of multiple finance officers within the company who can answer questions if the need arises.