Sam Gurwitt photo
Rehired Deputy Finance Director Rick Galarza, Assistant Superintendent Chris Melillo, and Interim Finance Director Myron Hul.
After a year and a half without a permanent director and months without a deputy, Hamden’s Finance Department is now poised to enter its next budget season with its top two positions filled for the first time since 2018.
Hamden Mayor Curt Leng issued a press release Friday evening announcing that the town has finally hired a finance director. The mayor has tapped Curtis Eatman, former deputy director of finance for the city of Schenectady, New York, for its top Finance Department position
While Eatman comes to Hamden with a fresh set of eyes, his deputy finance director comes to the town with an already intimate knowledge of its finances. Rick Galarza, who served as deputy finance director from November of 2017 until leaving the position in October, will return to his old post.
The finance director position has been vacant since Sal DeCola left the post in June of 2018. DeCola left Galarza, then an employee of only a few months, to run the finance department alone in a time when Hamden’s finances are very tight, and its pension and other long-term liabilities are increasing. From DeCola’s resignation until August of the following year, Galarza fulfilled both the duties of his own deputy position and those of the director position.
In August, Leng appointed Myron Hul to act as interim finance director until the town could hire a permanent employee. About two months later, in October, Galarza left.
City of Schenectady
Curtis Eatman.
Eatman received a B.A. from Syracuse University in 2009, and a master of public administration, also from Syracuse, in 2011. He went on to work as a fiscal analyst and then a tax analyst in the New York State Assembly before taking a position as deputy director of finance in Schenectady.
“Mr. Eatman has proven leadership in financial management, extensive experience in the development of fiscal forecasts and models, is experienced with the MUNIS financial system used by the Town and has a wealth of long and short-term strategic planning and government operations knowledge,” Leng wrote in an email to town employees in Friday.
Hul told the Independent that Eatman originally applied for the open deputy finance director position. “We were so impressed by his skills and polish and presentation that we wanted to consider him for the finance director position,” Hul said.
While Eatman came to the town through the competitive application process, Galarza came back partly due to chance.
Community Development Manager Adam Sendroff said he was at a federal Department of Housing and Urban Development roundtable in Bristol in January, and lo and behold, there was Galarza. “It was like a little reunion,” he said.
Sendroff said he told Leng that he had seen his old colleague. Leng then reached out to Galarza and convinced him to come back.
“I am really thrilled to welcome Mr. Eatman, someone with fresh perspective and experiences from both State and Local government and to welcome back Mr. Galarza, who I greatly enjoyed working with and who helped the Town through some very challenging financial times.” Leng wrote in his Friday email.
Before Eatman’s hire is official, his contract must be approved by the Legislative Council. Galarza’s hire does not need council approval, Leng said, because it is a union position and has cleared the civil service process.
Leng said both Eatman and Galarza start next week, which he said he’s “thrilled about because we’re deeply into the development of the recommended budget for the upcoming year and the timing will be very helpful.”
Hul said he will stick around for a transition period to help Eatman and Galarza ease into their positions before they dive into the next budget season. Leng’s recommended budget is due to the council on March 18. Hul will then stay with the town “in a slightly different role moving forward,” Leng wrote in his email, adding “if he’s willing.”
With both of its vacant finance positions filled, the town can now turn its attention to hiring a chief assessor, a position that has been vacant since former assessor John Gelati was forced out in November.
This is an encouraging development. On paper, Eatman has the background we'd want for this position. The fact that he'll have a deputy with historical knowledge of the town's finances also seems like a plus.
With the department now staffed up, it is imperative that it lead a long-term financial planning effort. By way of comparison, here's what New Haven has recently committed to doing:
• Gain an accurate, comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the City's current financials by a neutral third-party entity;
• Evaluate the City's short-term budgetary position and identify potential course corrections for this fiscal year and next;
• Conduct a five-year projection of the City's baseline budget position with an analysis on key budget drivers;
• Identify potential actions that the City may take to affect major budget drivers during the multi-year period.
https://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/building_permits/
Hamden needs the above every bit as much as New Haven, if not more so.