Everything old is new again, at least potentially, with regard to Wilton’s stumbling Finance Department.
The Board of Selectmen held a short special meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 27, to sanction the hiring of an interim chief financial officer in order to address expansive needs in its Finance Department on the heels of former CFO Dawn Norton‘s sudden departure.
While First Selectman Toni Boucher was adamant that there were only limited options for finding an interim replacement, the recommendation she made was for a firm — PKF O’Connor Davies (formerly O’Connor Davies) — that the town made a decision to stop using for its audits in 2014 in part because of concerns expressed by Wilton staff over its process and customer service at that time.
The BOS unanimously authorized Boucher to sign a contract to engage personnel with PKFOD, beginning with an interim CFO committing to one day a week, with an option for more hours and for other personnel from the company to come in on an as-needed basis. Pay would range between $325 and $375 per hour for each.
Bringing Back Former CFOs
Meanwhile, Selectwoman Kim Healy raised the seemingly radical idea of asking Norton to come back to help with the transition, whether virtually or in-person, as Healy said she remains a knowledgeable figure and Wilton’s Finance Department is also missing another key employee in manager of financial systems and payroll — a position that has been vacant for close to two years.
Officially, Norton resigned abruptly less than four weeks ago after it came to light that she had taken a second full-time job in Wyoming and was apparently living there, town officials maintain, without their knowledge or approval.
“Currently, the only experienced person we have is Tony DeFelice … His two colleagues are brand new, so really he is our only experienced person,” Healy said.
On Aug. 8, DeFelice, Wilton’s manager of financial reporting and planning, was sanctioned by the BOS to be the interim treasurer of the town as well, following Norton’s departure.
“I, by no means, think it’s sufficient,” Healy said of a part-time consultant filling the needs of the Finance Department as the annual audit and budget season unfold.
Healy cited the history of the previous CFO transition, when Wilton’s former CFO Anne Kelly-Lenz left to take the CFO position she now holds in the town of New Canaan.
“In 2022, when our former CFO left, there was an agreement made with her new position that she would come back and help us finish the audit, and she did that on her own free time, nights and weekends,” Healy said, noting that during that transition the Finance Department was otherwise fully staffed.
Healy also pointed out that former First Selectwoman Lynne Vanderslice was an experienced certified public accountant who had been through many budget seasons, relieving additional pressure from the transition.
“I’m not sure if we want to attempt to do that with our former CFO,” Healy said, referencing Norton. “It’s just a suggestion, because she obviously knows what she left behind … I’m just throwing it out there.”
Questioning Abrupt Loss of CFO Norton
No one speculated on the likelihood of such a possibility, but Healy said that she and the BOS were never asked about getting rid of Norton so suddenly.
“I don’t think there was anything the Board of Selectmen could have done,” Selectman Ross Tartell interjected. “She resigned.”
Healy said, “Well, she was asked to resign.”
Tartell replied, “We are live and being recorded.”
Healy then reminded the board that Kelly-Lenz returns to Wilton each year anyway to do part-time work.
“As we all know … our former CFO that is now in New Canaan, comes back annually to come back and reconcile our taxes,” she said, asking if she had been approached about returning to Wilton in any capacity.
Boucher said she had not reached out to Kelly-Lenz.
“We could ask Anne to see if she has that bandwidth and if the committee wanted to revisit, but I think that’s a discussion we should have in executive session,” Boucher said.
Asked rhetorically by Healy who was running the Finance Department, Boucher responded by praising DeFelice, whom she said is comfortable handling everything and, she said, has been in this kind of situation before.
Boucher also noted that Town Administrator Matt Knickerbocker, whose contract expires in 10 days on Sept. 7, is also providing oversight and has offered to be around to help with that transition when a new town administrator is chosen and hired.
“We’re kind of in a critical stage here,” Healy said.
Wilton’s History with O’Connor Davies
Along with a separate search committee at work looking for a new town administrator, a CFO search committee is also in operation, one that includes Boucher, Healy and Selectman Rich McCarty, Board of Finance Chair Matt Raimondi, BOF member Sandy Arkell and Jeff Rutishauser — a former BOF chair who was recently appointed by Boucher to chair the Wilton Capital Planning Committee.
Rutishauser was a member of the BOF in 2014 when it voted unanimously to not renew the contract with O’Connor Davies to conduct the town’s audit, instead switching to Blum, Shapiro & Company, P.C., which was later acquired by CliftonLarsonAllen, LLP, which continues to handle the town’s annual audit, led by Leslie Zoll.
In a meeting in January 2014, the BOF discussed the process for auditor selection, and the search committee’s recommendation that the town select Blum Shapiro over O’Connor Davies, which was concluding a three-year contract at that time.
“It was brought to light that there was some level of dissatisfaction with their customer service,” then-Chair Warren Serenbetz told the BOF regarding O’Connor Davies, noting that both Wilton employees and other municipalities around the state that had used them concurred.
Serenbetz described how staff reported six auditors coming into the offices for a brief period and all asking the same questions of staff, making them feel “overwhelmed.” He said that, while they asked the firm to operate differently, the same thing happened each year.
Serenbetz also noted that there were “issues with getting responses” from the company.
Sandy Dennies, Wilton’s CFO at that time, shared her agreement.
“We’ve pretty much heard the same thing for everyone,” she said of the company.
“The towns that we spoke to with O’Connor Davies had basically the same type of response in terms of the lack of communication that we were expressing,” Dennies said, “and I think for me, the answer was pretty clear about which of the two firms was the most recommended from the towns that we spoke to.”
The BOF, including Rutishauser, unanimously endorsed signing with CLA.
Asked if he had any reaction to the BOS decision now, years later, to sign an agreement to work again with the company, Rutishauser said, “I don’t believe there was a performance issue with O’Connor Davies at all.”
Instead, Rutishauser pointed a finger at then-CFO Dennies, with whom he said the BOF was having performance issues.
“We were dealing with a CFO performance issue at the time and the finance staff were not getting the work done to meet the audit time schedule,” Rutishauser said. “We were behind. We were late, not the auditor.”
Current BOF Chair Matt Raimondi said the decision to reengage O’Connor Davies was in the hands of the BOS.
“I can’t speak to the BOF’s 2014 decision to change auditors, as that was before my time on the board,” Raimondi said. “As for the current matter, the decision to engage PKF O’Connor Davies as interim CFO rests with the Board of Selectmen.”
“Since the BOF does not have jurisdiction over personnel appointments, we’re unable to comment on that engagement,” he said.
Boucher said at the Aug. 19 meeting that PKFOD had been highly recommended to her by BOF member Arkell and at least one other BOF member.
Clarifying Comments
In response to some concerns that had arisen since the last BOS discussion about PKFOD, Selectman Josh Cole sought to clarify a question of the firm’s attempt to get involved with the process review of Town Hall operations that officials are hoping to see executed.
“I just want to be clear that it is not our expectation that they are going to be performing the process review,” Cole said.
At the Aug. 19 BOS meeting, Boucher noted that in the PKFOD proposal letter, the company offered to potentially take on the process review work that the town is planning, despite the possibilities of conflict or perceived conflict if they are stepping in to temporarily run the department as well. The company said in its offer letter that, following further discussion, they could provide an estimate for that work as well.
Boucher and Tartell both indicated at that meeting it might be favorable to involve them in that too.
“I just want to make it clear for the public because there was some concern expressed about having potentially them on both sides of it,” Cole said. “We would obviously have to have an independent third party handling the process review.”
“It was part of the discussion, so that’s why I think they put it in there,” Boucher said, “that they understood the town was planning to engage in this, but certainly having a CFO first to be able to do that was critical.”
“That’s all future decisions to be made, but not in this agreement,” she said.
Still not sure what it’s looking at in terms of the cost, BOS members agreed that they would let the consultant come in for a week or so and, hopefully, assess what he thinks the needs will be.
“I just want to be mindful of the cost … Being someone who bills an hourly rate, fees can add up rather quickly,” Cole said.
Boucher said that the BOS can talk about it at its scheduled meeting on Sept. 16, at which time she said she would provide them with a report on what the consultant’s findings are.