The Board of Selectmen is moving forward toward hiring a part-time interim chief financial officer from a large accounting firm, but just how expensive it will be for the Town and what time commitments Wilton will get are still among the unknowns.
Ironically, after the controversial Process Review Committee temporarily suspended its collaborative search for an independent auditor to investigate and evaluate operations at Town Hall, First Selectman Toni Boucher — the center of the controversy over concerns for her involvement in the PRC — entertained a direct offer from this same accounting firm to conduct it, which she brought before the BOS.
Boucher and the BOS are scrambling to get someone in place after the sudden departure of former CFO Dawn Norton, who was discovered to be holding down a second full-time, in-person job in Wyoming, supposedly without anyone in Wilton being aware.
Wilton has already been facing significant challenges in its Finance Department this year, as reported extensively in GOOD Morning Wilton. Staff shortages have been partially blamed for some of them.
In an unrelated situation, Town Administrator Matt Knickerbocker‘s three-year contract comes to a close in September and he will not be returning. Consequently, the BOS has implemented two separate search committees for the CFO and town administrator positions, respectively.
BOF Recommendation
After talking with several consulting companies that were unavailable to help at this time — or could only offer people to work remotely — Boucher has put forward engaging with a large accounting conglomerate, PKF O’Connor Davies, LLP, which has previously conducted audits in Wilton and is known to Selectwoman Kim Healy.
“Sandy Arkell of the Board of Finance recommended them highly,” Boucher said, noting that other unnamed BOF members did likewise.
On Tuesday, Aug. 19, the BOS unanimously approved getting an engagement letter from the company, which is offering the services of Joseph Centofanti, a firm partner who is based out of the company’s Wethersfield office.
The company has 21 locations on the east coast, including offices in Shelton and Stamford, as well as four locations in India. Centofanti is one of its hundreds of “partner” employees, with more than 30 years experience in auditing, accounting and consulting services to state and local governments, also having taught, lectured and written in his area.
While Boucher said the company was specifically offering the services of Centofanti, a preliminary letter said the “discounted hourly rate for services” would be $325 to $375 an hour based on the individual who performed the services.
The initial plan is that Centofanti would be available for one eight-hour day per week to carry out the work of an interim CFO, with additional on-call availability for the rest of the week as needed.
“A Bit of Latitude” vs. Transparency
Boucher gladly stated that, after consulting with town counsel, the search for a new CFO, as well as town administrator, could be done informally and not be subject to the guidelines and disclosures of public meetings.
“It can be done without meeting notices … so that gives us quite a bit of latitude,” she said.
Newly appointed Selectman Rich McCarty, however, spoke in favor of fostering transparency through the process.
“I would like to insure that we remain as open and clear with the public as possible every step along the way,” McCarty said. “While we might be relieved of statutory requirements in that regard, I don’t think our process should relieve us of any disclosure or communication.”
Boucher said she agreed. “I think regular updates are absolutely critical and we will do that,” although she stressed that interviews should be done privately.
Healy noted that, as Centofanti was not being hired as a town employee, she didn’t think that an interview with him necessarily qualified under the rules for holding an executive session.
“I’m not sure we can speak to him in private,” Healy said, to which Boucher then agreed.
“This is different,” Boucher said. “This is more of a contract … That’s why we’re discussing them here and their credentials. We just did some legwork.”
Comparing the Costs
Selectman Josh Cole asked about the cost, as compared to former CFO Dawn Norton’s $216,000 salary, which roughly comes out to just over $100 per hour based on a 40-hour work week.
“Have we done any analysis to what the estimated cost will be? … It’s hard for me to get my arms around it when you’re talking about an hourly rate,” Cole said.
Knickerbocker, however, described it as “roughly comparable,” since the town would not be paying any benefits, although it was still unknown exactly how many hours of work might be needed.
“At this point, until he comes in and interviews staff and takes a look at our system and what needs to be done, it’s a little hard to pin down how many hours that’s going to entail,” Knickerbocker said.
Boucher said Centofanti would be needed for more than the eight hours each week.
“It’s not going to be just that one day … We have to double that probably,” Boucher said.
Selectman Ross Tartell pointed out that the town’s Finance Department was still currently short staffed separate of Norton’s recent departure, with budget season looming and the annual outside audit soon getting underway.
“Well, we’ve filled two of the three positions,” Boucher said.
Tartell replied, “We got two out of three ain’t bad. Y’know, that’s a song I know, but it’s not gonna staff a finance group where you have issues with the audit, you have software implementations and you have process issues.”
Process Review Committee Controversy
In an effort to get out ahead of several issues that have infected operations at Town Hall, the BOF has sought to have an independent process review done of department functions, starting with finance. While there are other issues that have come up, including several related to the Department of Public Works, the tentative plan was to bring in a consultant who would begin by looking at finance and see where problems and potential corrections and changes might happen.
As reported extensively in GOOD Morning Wilton, when Boucher officially formed a Process Review Committee that was supposed to put together a scope of work for an independent consultant, as well as search for the right firm, she drew concerns from some quarters when she put herself on that committee and left off Healy, who had been instrumental in bringing some key issues to the public’s attention.
Confusion also ensued over the charge of the committee, with concerns expressed by Cole, Healy and others about conflicts of interest, as Boucher would be taking part in a search for the auditor that would be investigating her own administration. This was exacerbated by conflicting mission statements that emerged separately from the BOF and the BOS.
At its Aug. 7 meeting the BOS made plans to confer with BOF Chair Matt Raimondi about exactly what the BOS was voting to approve in the mission statement for the PRC, a four-member committee that includes Boucher, Raimondi, Tartell and Arkell.
The bombshell news about Norton, however, moved the PRC to suspend its meetings until a CFO could be put in place, as it was felt that that role needed to be operational in order for an outside auditor to engage with the town’s Finance Department, according to Raimondi.
Now, having learned about this situation in Wilton, PKF O’Connor Davies, LLP, in its outreach to Boucher, is encouraging her to also and separately make their company the independent auditor for the process review.
At Tuesday’s (Aug. 19) meeting, Boucher read the proposal letter from the company: “Based on our discussion, we noted that the town has plans to conduct a process review of the Finance Department. We have experience in performing these types of reviews and would be able to complete the project for the town. After reviewing or discussing the scope of the project, we can provide an estimate for that project.”
“So that estimate is not in here,” Boucher said, “but they could do it when needed and maybe when this process concludes.”
Tartell expressed favor with the idea, emphasizing the urgency to face the annual audit and an impending budget season.
Neither Cole, nor Healy, nor McCarty commented on that proposal.
I think some perspective is needed regarding Ms. Norton’s working simultaneously for Greybull, WY and Wilton, CT.
Per Greybull’s website, their population currently is 1,669. Per their audited financial statements for Fiscal Year Ending 6.30.24 their Total Primary Government expenses for the year ended 6.30.24 were $3.4 million.
Wilton’s population is currently 18,340. Per the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for the Fiscal Year Ended 6.30.24 the total Governmental Activities expenses were $154.9 million dollars.
This is a substantial difference in the size of the towns’ government.
During GMW’s “Knickerbocker Q&A” published 8.12.25 Matt Knickerbocker, in response to a question regarding possible outside employment by Ms. Norton, was reported to have stated “Previous conversations about outside employment were centered on things like special projects…it’s not unusual … where one town might say, “Hey, can I use your assessor for a little bit while we have this vacancy?” Or “…your building official?” So my assumption at the time, if I read and even paid attention to it was, that’s what that was. Like, “I’m going to be doing some special projects here and there.” And I didn’t give that a second thought, because we had discussed those things before.”
Given the discrepancy in size of the two towns, it seems to me the nature of the work Ms. Norton was providing to the Town of Greybull was akin to the loan of a Wilton employee to another local municipality.
In other words, a tempest in a teapot.