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Village treasurer Willems resigns

Treasurer Don Willems has resigned in another staff change at the Nakusp Village office.

Treasurer Don Willems has resigned in another staff change at the Nakusp Village office. Willems handed in his resignation before the holidays, and the position has just been posted publicly.

“We’ll miss him,” said CAO Linda Tynan, who cited the reasons for his resignation were “personal” when asked.

“It’s the best thing for him,” the CAO noted, who also said that Willems has said he plans to continue to live in the area, and will be returning after he takes some time off.

Replacing Willems will be challenging, but the Village is being flexible in its approach.

“It would be great to find a seasoned municipal financial leader,” Tynan said, but the Village is looking for a variety of candidates, hoping to find someone local in particular.

“We’re looking at the possibility to have [the new treasurer] work here and train them,” Tynan stated, which opens the door to people with a financial background who are interested in learning what it takes to be chief financial officer in a municipality.

Tynan herself moved from a financial background in the private sector to join the municipal workforce, so she is aware that this can be a great opportunity for both the Village and the successful applicant.

Although Willems will be missed and hard to replace, Tynan is choosing to see his departure  as an opportunity, like any other change.

“We can take advantage of the change to review processes and procedures, to modernize and to update,” she pointed out, “to take stock of what’s working and what’s not working.”

Getting both the budget and the year-end together is crucial right now, and is usually the task of the treasurer, but until a new treasurer is hired, Tynan will be wearing the two hats of CAO and CFO. As the Village of Nakusp has no treasurer, Tynan herself will be employing her financial know-how to help cover the work that needs to be done.

 

“The budget is first,” she said, realistic but optimistic about the work ahead. “I’ve got lots of people we network with and we can contract some of it out.”