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RFH 2010, Cover Stories, Village Board News

New Treasurer Makes Suggestions

Thu, Dec 15, 2011

New Treasurer Makes Suggestions

CORRECTION: Alana Scheckler was named the village clerk, after Ronda Winn resigned and the job of clerk/treasuer was divided.

Mary Ann Henderson, the village's new treasurer, gave trustees a lot of information and plenty to think about at Tuesday's regular monthly meeting.

Henderson, who until recently was treasurer for the Village of Cooperstown, made a variety of suggestions of processes, reports and policies the board needs or ought to adopt, some of which the village has not had.

On Tuesday, Henderson:

  • asked the board to approve a records retention policy;
  • recommended the board adopt a comprehensive computer-use policy;
  • gave trustees a recap of income and expenses for the past 10 years;
  • discussed with the board the need to use fund balances to pay down some of the village's debt;
  • said she will begin creating monthly finance reports for each department head and for the trustees;
  • reported she had spoken with Alliance Bank about putting a cap on how much money approved vendors (i.e. the state, the IRS, etc.) may withdraw without an approval by village officials;
  • and said the checking account of the Fourth of July Committee needs to have a second signatory on all checks.

In addition, Henderson said the fee for the 2012 fire protection contract with the Town of Hamilton is $37,209, which the town accepted. Contracts with the towns of Madison and Lebanon are pending.

Henderson, who was named the New York State Society of Municipal Finance Officers' Distinguished Finance Officer for 2010, also said the Office of the State Comptroller has finished its audit and that she has reviewed the 25-page report.

At the end of her report, Mayor Margaret Miller said to Henderson, "You're getting us on track."

Henderson was hired after former Clerk/Treasurer Ronda Winn resigned this fall. At that time, trustees decided to split the job, hiring a treasurer and appointing Alana Scheckler clerk. At the same time, Sean Graham was named village administrator.

Henderson said she worked for the Village of Cooperstown from March 2002 to November 2011, starting an account clerk/typist and after eight months was appointed to deputy treasurer. In August of 2003 she was appointed treasurer.

Before that she worked for Little Falls Scaffolding for nine years as a bookkeeper.

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