by Dennis Dalman
A search for a new financial director for Sartell is underway.
Heidi Ostlie, the former director, announced her resignation last month in order to take a job with the city of Detroit Lakes.
At the May 11 City Council meeting, member Mike Chisum said he wants to be assured that the full City Council will be able to interview the candidate or candidates. Chisum’s fellow council members agreed but noted that in order to respect the privacy of individual applicants, it would be best to have the city’s personnel committee to meet with applicants first. Then, if the personnel committee recommends one or more candidates, they could then appear before the full council for the interview process.
Chisum said he is amenable to that particular process. The position of financial director, he added, is such a vital job for the city that the interview process must involve the entire council.
Mayor Ryan Fitzthum noted that the interview process might have to be done via Zoom because of the ongoing virus crisis.
Author: Dennis Dalman
Dalman was born and raised in South St. Cloud, graduated from St. Cloud Tech High School, then graduated from St. Cloud State University with a degree in English (emphasis on American and British literature) and mass communications (emphasis on print journalism). He studied in London, England for a year (1980-81) where he concentrated on British literature, political science, the history of Great Britain and wrote a book-length study of the British writer V.S. Naipaul. Dalman has been a reporter and weekly columnist for more than 30 years and worked for 16 of those years for the Alexandria Echo Press.