YOUNGSTOWN — The city will start a search next month for a deputy finance director, a position vacant since March 2021.

The position could easily be considered unfilled since January 2018 when Kyle Miasek, the deputy finance director, was promoted to interim finance director. Miasek served on an interim basis for more than three years without a deputy.

Miasek said he hopes the job will be posted in a few weeks. He said he’s targeting assistant state auditors in the Mahoning Valley and wants to hire someone by the end of the year.

“I put out a few feelers with state auditors in the area,” he said. “We hope that’s the field we can draw from.”

Mayor Jamael Tito Brown said there won’t be a deadline to fill the position.

“We’ll see what talents are out there,” Brown said. “We want to start the search and get someone as soon as possible.”

JOB DESCRIPTION

Miasek recently updated the job description — something that hadn’t been done since 1983.

One focus of the deputy finance director’s job will be to establish a central purchasing policy for the city, Brown said.

In addition, the job description calls for the person hired to assist with preparing and monitoring the city budget, analyzing and reviewing financial reports, monitoring and assisting with grants, creating and maintaining special projects and serving as a liaison between the city and the Regional Income Tax Agency, which collects the city’s 2.75 percent income tax.

The city wants candidates to have at least a bachelor’s degree in accounting, financing or related filed and five years of work experience in public finance, accounting or a related field, preferably with government accounting and budgeting experience. Certified public accountants or those with a master’s degree in finance, accounting or related field are preferred.

SALARY

A salary hasn’t been determined for the job, Brown said. The current annual salary for the position is about $86,000.

“When we had a deputy finance director, the salary was on the lower end,” Brown said. “We’ll probably have to raise it, but we haven’t decided on an amount.”

Miasek, who has worked for the city since 2006, makes about $98,000 annually.

City voters in November 2020 approved a charter amendment, with 58.8 percent supporting it, that allowed the salaries of the finance and law directors to be determined by city council. The previous charter language had the two positions paid 80 percent of the mayor’s annual salary.

Without the change, Miasek would have made more money as deputy finance director than as finance director.

David Bozanich served several years as the city’s finance director until he left the job in December 2017. That was a month after Brown was first elected. During that campaign, Brown said he wouldn’t retain Bozanich, who was under criminal investigation at the time and would be indicted in August 2018.

Bozanich spent nearly 11 months in a state prison, getting out in July 2021, after being convicted on two felonies and two misdemeanors related to illegal activity, including bribery, while he served as the city’s finance director.

Brown sought candidates for a finance director in late 2018 that attracted four applicants, including Miasek, but did little to no follow-up in the following two years. Miasek served as interim finance director that entire time and was appointed finance director four months after the charter amendment changing the salary was approved.

dskolnick@vindy.com