Published: November 18, 2009 10:03 am      

CFO COLLESANO TALKS: GCCS’ chief financial officer explains why he’s leaving after a few months

Board member: Hopes micromanaging stops before more administrators leave

One Greater Clark County Schools board member is speaking out, hoping for micromanaging to stop before more administrators walk out after the district’s chief financial officer announced his resignation, effective Jan. 1.

Frank Collesano, CFO, was retired for more than nine years when he took the job just four months ago, starting Aug. 3. He said he’s leaving because he misses that retired life, as well as for another reason — he believes the board lacked confidence in him.

Collesano pointed to two recent recommendations he made to the board. One was to hire an experienced architect for the auto-tech building in Charlestown and the other was to trade in a vehicle and purchase a new 4-wheel-drive one to help survey the safety of the roads during the winter, along with the district’s three others used for that same purpose. Both were voted down.

“In my 26 years working with school boards, I never had an item pulled or an item taken down, because I felt I always had the confidence of the board,” Collesano said of his previous experience. “Especially as the CFO, if you’re bringing a financial issue before the board, you would hope that they would think you had the money available to take care of the item you’re proposing, but then to get turned down — because they questioned whether you had the money or not — is kind of, you know, take it for what it’s worth.”

Collesano, 64, said during his short tenure he already completed the budget for 2010, which was projected to be in the red. He said he started from scratch, only putting in necessities to make it balanced.

“One would think that with that ability, you would have the full confidence and support of the school board,” he said, adding that he’s not talking about each of the seven members.

He added that he believes they all support him, but agreed when asked if the board micromanaged.



MICROMANAGING?

Missy DeArk — a certified public accountant and board member who voted in favor of those two issues — agreed that’s what happened. She said Collesano’s work on the budget, his experience working with schools and more proved that he knows what he’s doing.

“You feel very confident when they bring something to the table that it’s gong to be done right and they know what they are talking about. That doesn’t mean we don’t ask questions, but we don’t micromanage either,” DeArk said. “None of us board members can be in that administration building all the time, understanding all the details ... We’re supposed to be setting policy.

“Questioning Frank down to the detail of the safety of a car is not policy-making. If he tells me we have the money to do it, then I believe we have the money to do it … I get aggravated when board members think they know more than the experienced administrators we put in place do.”

DeArk said she thinks the questioning of the board “absolutely offended” Collesano.

However, Christina Gilkey, board vice president, said she believes questioning is necessary.

“If you never disagree with the [recommendations], then why are you on the board? Questioning one another keeps everyone honest and keeps you on your toes and I think that’s healthy,” said Gilkey, who voted against the new vehicle, saying it was unnecessary, and the architect, saying that proper procedure hadn’t been followed, since the proposed architectural group already had toured the building before the measure came before the board.

“I vote my conscious. I voted what I believed was best for the corporation and that’s what I try to do for every decision,” Gilkey added. “It’s the job of the superintendent and his staff to help us make informed decisions. Ultimately, we’re the governing body. We have to vote on what’s best for the corporation and students.”



FINDING A REPLACEMENT

If current practices continue, DeArk said she has worries about other administrators leaving.

“That’s my fear,” she said. “I just wish we’d let the administration do their job and we’d do our job. If we can get that understanding across, I think the sky is the limit.”

The previous CFO, Mike Hodgson, had been put on paid leave for months before being fired by the board, which later retracted that and allowed him to resign. No reason was ever announced.

DeArk said having that happen as well as Collesano leaving after five months on the job will taint the district’s search for a qualified candidate to fill the position.

“It just doesn’t look good. I think it’s going to be very difficult to find anybody,” she said.

As to if it will be filled by the first of the year, she said she “would be shocked.”

Superintendent Stephen Daeschner — who had worked with Collesano at Jefferson County Public Schools in Kentucky and brought him on as CFO — said the search another CFO will start immediately.

“Frank has done a great job as CFO and implemented many improvements to the district,” Daeschner said via e-mail. “His experience and knowledge will be greatly missed.”



LASTING IMPACT FOR GCCS

Collesano said during his time, he has also helped the district earn more money on its investments. He said the district earned $349.15 for the first 30 days of August in interest. Then, he made a change, increasing the interest rate in favor of the district. He said on Aug. 31 alone, the district brought in $658.73.

Another change he started is creating milestones with set dates for the construction managers at Charlestown and Jeffersonville high schools, he said. Previously, no dates had been set, he said. He also got work at JHS to be moved to afterschool hours, at no additional cost to Greater Clark.

“The construction people were running the project, not the owner. Now the owner is,” Collesano said.

He also developed a four-year plan to get the district out of a $1 million deficit in its severance budget.



ADVICE FOR REPLACEMENT

As for what he’d tell his replacement, Collesano said for that person to make sure to continue to run the construction projects and keep an eye on the different sections of the budget, knowing what can be cut if needed.

“Stay on top of all your budgets, know what you can do as far as movement within them … you just need to stay focused and understand them, like your right and left arm,” he said. “You have to understand what they are doing all the time and make the adjustments, like if the state decides they are going to cut the budget, you can’t cry over it.

“You have to adjust your budget and you need to be in a position where you can do that. There’s a lot of techniques you can do to do that that I’ve learned over the years.”



CHANCE FOR HIM TO STAY?

Collesano said he has vacation plans for the month of January, but said that if he has the itch to come back to work, possibly part-time, he would see if Greater Clark still wanted to utilize him. However, he said his decision now is that he won’t return to work after he leaves.

He added that this is a resignation and that he does not qualify for any retirement benefits from Greater Clark.