Westfield City Council begins process of finding new city auditor

July 8, 2020 | Dennis Hackett
dennis@thereminder.com

The Westfield City Council agreed on the process through which they would hire a new city auditor on June 29.
Screen capture from Channel 15

WESTFIELD – The Westfield City Council approved the resignation of City Auditor Chris Caputo and set the process for determining his successor.

Caputo’s last day in office was June 30. A Springfield resident, he left Westfield to become his hometown’s treasurer and collector.

After a lengthy discussion, the council ultimately agreed to split the interview process into three steps, starting with an application review committee and a screening committee before the final public interviews with the full City Council.

During the meeting, Councilor Dan Allie said Caputo did a great job during his tenure as the auditor.

“The level of expertise that he had when he answered the questions of the Council, he gave us our options clearly, thoughtfully, and it was very much appreciated. I’d like to see him stay a little bit longer, but I wish him the best,” he said.

The council then jumped into the discussion about the best way to conduct the job search in a timely manner, after making the initial 30-day job posting for the position on June 22. The biggest point of contention from the discussion was whether to use a screening committee or the Personnel Action Committee to conduct the interviews.

Council President Brent Bean said that it was necessary to have a screening committee because then the interviews would have to be private, which he said would be a benefit to the applicants.

“If we do not have these screening committees, every interview becomes public, which I have a huge problem with. It’s a little unfair for the candidates and gives people a leg up that are following them to sit in on the interviews, which doesn’t happen often, but does happen,” he said.

Councilor Michael Burns said he was against using a screening committee and would rather use the PAC to conduct the interviews. “I think it’s the fairest and only process we should do. I think this is why we put it together and we have experts on it. I think the PAC needs to make the decision and recommend the final candidates,” he said.

Councilor Ralph Figy said that he was a fan of the current process for hiring the auditor and explained the entire process at the meeting.

He said, “I think the three levels of this process are a good thing. I think we need HR and legal to look and make sure everybody meets the minimum qualifications before going to the screening committee, who then review the applicants and decide who get a public interview as a finalist.”

He also added that it was important for the interview to be private through the screening committee process to not upset the candidates.

“Nothing was made public about the candidates until it came to the final interviews and I think that’s important,” he said, “People don’t want to be looking over their shoulder with their current employer asking why they want to leave, we need to have a sense of decorum and be cognizant of people in current jobs.”

While Council President Bean said the PAC interviews could be beneficial, he said it ultimately would not be necessary. He said, “I’m not against the PAC piece because I think they do a fantastic job but it’s redundant in my mind.”

Initially, Bean suggested that the screening committee should have six candidates but after some discussion the council voted to add a seventh member to the committee to be named later.

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