WILMINGTON — In February, the town hall website added a position for finance director/town accountant. The post reads that the position is open until filled, and that it reports to the town manager and the Select Board. The proposed salary range is $112,967.05 through $142,948.76 depending on experience.
The person appointed will serve as Chief Financial Officer and oversee the town’s financial activities including accounting, collections, purchasing, treasury, financial systems, and assessing according to the job posting.
The finance director is particularly instrumental in the preparation of the annual town budget, a point reiterated by temporary Town Manager Lou Cimaglia as he gave the preliminary town manager’s budget presentation to the Select Board on Feb. 12.
The current finance director, Bryan Perry, was hired by the Select Board in 2019. Perry worked for five years in this role in Wilmington. At the time he was hired, Perry told the Wilmington Apple that he felt his experience in private industry, with the Board of Appeals in North Andover, and lastly as Lowell’s City Auditor had prepared him to serve in this capacity.
As finance director, Perry also serves on the Town Manager Screening Committee and interacts with all town department heads.
The Select Board is responsible for hiring the town’s finance director/town accountant. They are also in charge of hiring the town manager and the town counsel, and they are in the process currently of hiring the permanent town manager.
The board’s process to hire Perry involved advertising the position and accepting applications, establishing and convening a screening committee including board members to review resumes and conduct preliminary interviews, conducting those reviews and interviews, preparing a short list of candidates to the board, and then board interviewing those candidates and voting to make a job offer.
It was also a priority at that time, according to then Town Manager Jeff Hull, to ensure that the new finance director was established before the previous finance director departed.
The board has made no mention of Perry’s departure nor received any memo in communications informing them of his leave. However, in order to follow the established process used previously, they will need to set up the screening committee to review the applications received at the closing of the job posting.
Perry declined to comment to the Town Crier at this time.
It is unknown currently if he will remain in place long enough to allow a transition for the new finance director.
