During their regular meeting on April 15 the Humboldt County Board of Commissioners approved efforts to expand their search for a new Comptroller, as the current Comptroller has announced her retirement, although the date is open-ended.
“It’s hard to find [a person for this position] because it’s accounting, however, it’s not regular accounting, it’s government accounting. There’s a lot of rules behind it and finding somebody that has some knowledge of government accounting is going to be pretty difficult, I think,” explained Humboldt County Manager Don Kalkoske before the meeting.
Humboldt County Comptroller Gina Rackley manages the County’s financial reporting to the Department of Taxation and other accounting tasks, including internal audits, grants, budgets and much more, using government accounting as opposed to regular accounting, navigates changes in legislation that affect the County’s finances, and manages an office of multiple employees.
With the specific and high priority nature of the job, the Commissioners are pushing to get the position filled as soon as possible and by a highly qualified individual, approving an agreement for recruiting services from Katie Weigel with Robert Half Recruiters & Employment Agency pending the District Attorney Office’s approval of the contract.
According to Humboldt County Human Resources Director Kellie Kranovich, the vacancy has been posted internally, as well as on Government Jobs, Indeed, Careers, Facebook, Pool Pact, and Linked-In, but none have generated viable candidates to consider.
“Of the applications we got we had one that had some experience and some government accounting experience, but we’d like to widen that pool a little bit,” explained Kalkoske at the meeting.
Comptroller Rackley, having been the Comptroller for the past eight years and having served in various other local government positions, has left her retirement date open-ended and she confirmed during an interview that she intends to help onboard the next comptroller and train them before she officially leaves.
“It has truly been an honor to serve our county…I want this to be the smoothest transition possible,” said Rackley.
Rackley also explained how important it is to have the right person in the comptroller position—someone the taxpayers can trust.
“The one thing here that I’ve never taken lightly is the fact that we’re here because of the taxpayers. We get paid by the taxpayers, and every dollar that comes in or out of this organization is the taxpayer’s money and so that’s one thing that we all emphasize,” said Rackley. “We’re all on the same team and every time we look at an expenditure, every time we look at the receipts, we know that this is the taxpayer's money and that is probably the single most important thing that I can say about our job is to never lose sight of whose money it is.”
The Commissioners chose the services of Robert Half from two options, the other being services provided by Prothman Company which would have cost $11,500 for just applicant sourcing and screening, and $17,500 for full recruitment services including interviewing.
Services from Robert Half Recruiting will cost 30 percent of the hired candidate’s annual starting salary with the Comptroller’s salary range $116,190.31 to $148,142.6, and Weigel offered to give the County a rebate if the hired candidate is found internally. Additionally, the services are contingent on the hiring of a candidate, so if a suitable applicant is not found and hired, the County does not have to pay for the services.
Weigel said that her goal is to have a candidate ready for the Commission to interview in a week’s time.
Although the rates were slightly higher for Robert Half Recruiting services, the Commission agreed that the range of services and energy from Weigel would better suit their needs and even though the candidates will be sourced for them, the ultimate decision is left to the Commission and interviews for the position will take place in a public forum.
“I think we have an opportunity here to find the best candidate that’s out there and it’s up to us at this point to make a decision we feel is going to bring the best prospects for us,” said Commissioner Jesse Hill.