Council Approves $9,000-a-Month Contract for Financial Services

Left without a financial director or assistant financial director, city officials agreed in November to a $9,000 per month contract with accounting firm Abdo, Eick and Meyers, LLP.

The firm is one of two companies hired by the city last month to perform "high level financial services" for the city while city officials search for a replacement for former Financial Director Ann Lanoue and Assistant Financial Director Cathy Shea, who both retired earlier this fall. The contract with Abdo, Eick and Meyers  extends through Jan. 31, 2012.

The second firm, Springsted, has contracted with the city through Dec. 31, 2012, and will receive $9,000 total over the span of the contract for their services, according to Assistant City Administrator Jenelle Teppen.

The cost to hire the financial firms will be offset by the savings the city receives while the positions in its financial department are vacant, City Administrator Joe Lynch wrote in a memo to the Inver Grove Heights City Council. The city is seeking to replace at least one of those positions, the memo said.

The firms would help the city with its 2012 budget setting, and could provide other services, including TIF district reviews and bond arbitrage, Lynch's memo said. The council approved both contracts with a 4-1 vote. Councilor Rosemary Piekarski Krech, who voiced concern over the cost of the contracts, cast the lone dissenting vote.

As part of the contract, Abdo, Eick and Meyers will be working several days a week for up to eight hours a day. The contract with Springsted includes a few hours of on-site work per week, however the majority of the work would be completed off-site, Teppen told the council in November.