TIPP CITY — The resignation of David Stevens, treasurer for Tipp City Schools, was accepted at a special meeting held by the Tipp City Board of Education Tuesday evening.
“It’s been bittersweet. The people, everyone I’ve worked with — that’s what I’m going to miss the most,” Stevens said. “I want to say thank you to Tipp, because they’re the ones who gave me my first opportunity to be a treasurer and let me be able to grow. I’ll miss the place.”
Board president Theresa Dunaway was the only person to vote no on Stevens’ resignation; she, like many board members, thanked Stevens for the work he has done for Tipp City Schools, especially in the past year with the pandemic.
“We’ve been working together the longest, and it’s been really fun to see you grow in your position since you’ve been here. I feel like last year was a super challenging year for you, and probably, at times, you wore way too many hats. When COVID came, you took over as technology, and then you did director of operations for four months, and of course, you’re always doing HR,” Dunaway said. “Thank you for doing all of that. At times we get busy, and we don’t say thank you enough. Best of luck.”
The rest of the meeting was spent discussing the best strategy moving forward in finding a new treasurer. With Stevens’ position as treasurer set to expire on May 31, 2021, the board has just under 90 days to find a replacement — a significant time crunch that was noted several times during the meeting. One of the biggest concerns was the cost of using a search firm to find potential candidates.
“I don’t like spending money, but I candidly don’t believe we will be able to find somebody quickly enough without spending some money on somebody to assist us,” board member Simon Patry said. “I think the challenges our district face with the timing of hiring somebody, you’re going to make it very difficult to find somebody to take Dave’s place prior to his departure, and that would leave us in a very bad spot.”
Several search firms were brought up during the discussion, including The K12 Search Group, Buckeye Association of School Administrators, and Ohio Association of School Business Officials. President Dunaway and board member Corine Doll will be contacting search firms within the coming days to get quotes on the cost of utilizing their services in finding a new treasurer.
While research will be conducted on search firms, the board plans to post the job listing ASAP and leave the application process open with no set deadline in order to encourage applicants to apply for the position. Doll also brought up that there are interim services the district can utilize if they feel they haven’t found the right person for the position by the time Stevens’ position as treasurer ends.
“Either at one of these agencies or multiple agencies (…) I’ve heard that they have a retired treasurer pool. You might have some options for interim services if you don’t find what you’re looking for by the time Dave has to leave,” superintendent Mark Stefanik said.
The board will meet in a work session beginning at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, March 9, to discuss quotes from search firms and to make a decision on utilizing a search firm, as well as the next steps that will be taken in the search for a new treasurer. The next regular meeting of the board will be Monday, March 22, at 6 p.m.
