City Council Hires New City Auditor

City Council Hires New City Auditor Gardner native John Richard gets unanimous approval

Andrew Mansfield Reporter GARDNER  T City Council unanimously appointed Gardner native John Richard to be the city’s new auditor during its Monday night meeting.he “I hope to do it for many years and I can’t wait to get started,” said Mr. Richard. The position has been empty since Gene Ferrari resigned in September. Since then, the Finance Committee and Mayor Mark Hawke led a process of finding applicants and interviewing candidates. While the Finance Com­mittee selected two candidates for interviews, ultimately only Mr. Richard remained interested in the position and agreed to be interviewed. He will serve the rest of the term Mr. Ferrari was previously hired for, which expires in February 2017. At that time, he can be reappointed for a full three-year term by the council. While Mr. Richard has many years of accounting experience in the private sector, working for companies such as Birch Point Paper Products in Fitchburg and Fosta-Tek Optics in Leo­minster, he has no experience using the city’s accounting system Munis. Mr. Ferrari also had no prior experience using Munis and city finances fell behind during his tenure. As a result, the city is employing the temporary accounting services of the company CliftonLarsonAllen to help the city deal with its finances. In both interviews with the Finance Committee Mr. Richard said he was confident he could learn Munis. “Mr. Richard indicated to us a desire and willingness to become familiar with our operating system,” said City Council President James Walsh. City Councilor Karen Hardern suggested that Mr. Richard should take a course on Munis before working full-time for the city. “That just might give him a little bit more incentive to learn,” she said. Mr. Walsh, who serves as Finance Committee chairman, said that was not considered by the committee, but indicated that CliftonLarsonAllen could remain working for the city in a transition period, providing oversight to Mr. Richard while he becomes acquainted. He said that the concern about what the city would do if Mr. Richard struggled with Munis was “part of the reason why we only filled the position for the remainder of the term.” Mr. Richard said in his previous jobs he put in extra time in order to become familiarized with the accounting system and could learn Munis “within a month.” “I did not sit on my hands, I learned the system. My career is accounting,” he said. Mr. Morgan praised Mr. Richard for expressing a hard-working attitude toward adjusting to Munis during his interviews. “I thought was an absolute step in the right direction versus what we’ve seen in the past,” he said. Mr. Walsh said Mr. Richard’s former employers were “very supportive” of his job performance and their references were a key in deciding he was fit for the job. City Councilor Ronald Cormier said that Mr. Richard’s “background was very similar” to Calvin Brooks, the longtime city auditor who was replaced by Mr. Ferrari. Mr. Cormier said that Mr. Brooks indicated a willingness to help the city if need be while Mr. Richard becomes acclimated. City Councilor Scott Graves cited the difficultly the city has had with the auditor position in the past year and told Mr. Richard he has faith in him. “I just want to thank you for putting your name in the hat,” he said. “I was born and raised in Gardner, so that’s the reason I like this position. Anything to help out Gardner,” said Mr. Richard.