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July 31, 2010

Jeffersonville hires financial adviser

Monica Harmon will eventually become city controller, mayor says

By BRADEN LAMMERS Braden.Lammers@newsandtribune.com

JEFFERSONVILLE — The city of Jeffersonville has hired a person who is expected to eventually become the city’s controller in 2012.

Monica Harmon has joined Mayor Tom Galligan’s staff as a financial adviser to the city, replacing Bill Mattingly, who formerly held the position. Harmon, a certified public accountant, worked with the Regional Airport Authority of Louisville and is the vice president and controller for Wyandotte Community Corp. Her initial role will be to help put budgets together for the city, Galligan said.

Five people were considered for the position and four were interviewed, but she met all of the qualifications, Galligan said. Harmon will make an annual salary of $65,000, which is the same figure Mattingly made.

As the city transitions to its second-class status, a controller position that is hired by the mayor will be added to the city’s administration. Subsequently, the role of the clerk-treasurer will be dissolved, leaving only an elected city clerk’s position, in accordance with Indiana code.

In a second class city, the controller handles finances, while the clerk handles records-keeping.

Although the transition is a year-and-a-half away with a mayoral election in between, Galligan was confident that Harmon would eventually have the controller’s job with the city.

“She will be the controller,” he said.

The switch will occur in January 2012 and until then Harmon will aid the city in ensuring a smooth transition from a clerk-treasurer to a controller monitoring Jeffersonville’s finances.

“She will do the budgets and everything now so when we go to a second-class city all of the structure will be in place,” Galligan said.

To make that transition, Harmon will have to work closely with Jeffersonville’s Clerk-Treasurer, Peggy Wilder, who has been a source of controversy in the city’s government.

Wilder was elected to her current term in November 2007, is paid more than $65,000 per year and her office was a topic of a recent city council meeting where the council voted against an ordinance that would have granted raises to a number of city employees.

The proposed ordinance would have increased pay for two clerk-treasurer’s office employees, Suzy Bass and Barbara Hollis, by about a $5,000 for each. The raises had even been mentioned as a way of compensating the pair for extra work they have done in the absence of Wilder.

It has been alleged that Wilder — who also has been the subject of two recent legal battles — routinely does not show up for work.

As a result of her legal issues, Wilder was sentenced to community service in a case where she was charged for theft in Kentucky for trading in a vehicle for which she didn’t produce a proper title. She also pleaded — but no final ruling has been issued — to a conversion charge, a class A misdemeanor, for allegedly using city credit cards for personal purchases.

While city council members said at a recent meeting the clerk-treasurer’s office needs to be evaluated, there is little action the council could take to remove Wilder. Neither the council nor the mayor have the direct authority to remove another elected official from office.

“[She] is elected by the people,” said Councilman Mike Smith. “I feel I don’t have much of an impact. Our hands are tied.”

Smith said he was not that familiar with the controller’s job description and how it might affect the clerk-treasurer’s office. He did say that the financial adviser fell within the salary structure for the position and did not need to be approved by the council.

The affect of installing a new financial adviser is also not immediately clear to the clerk-treasurer’s office, but it was promised that there would be no conflict.

“We worked with [Mattingly] and we’ll continue to work with the mayor and any of his department heads,” Bass said. “We’ve always had a good working relationship.”

Wilder, who was contacted at her office Friday afternoon, agreed.

“We’ll work with anyone in the mayor’s office,” she said.

Wilder said she was not sure of exactly how Harmon will interact with her office, but that Harmon will likely act as a financial go-between within city administration.

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