(a) Establishment. The Department of Finance in and for the City is hereby established.
(b) Direction and Control. The Department of Finance shall be under the direction and control of a City Finance Director and he or she shall be the appointing authority in said Department, having the sole power and authority to appoint and suspend all assistant directors or department heads within the Department. The Finance Director upon giving prior notice to Council, the Mayor and the City Law Director, may remove a director or department head within the Department, subject to any applicable civil service law if such person is in the classified service, and subject to any Charter provision. The Finance Director shall have the sole power and authority to appoint, suspend or remove all other employees within the Department, subject to any applicable civil service law if such person is in the classified service, without prior notice to Council. The Finance Director may delegate any or all power and authority he or she possesses to his or her assistant Director or a subordinate department head. The Finance Director may prescribe and assign duties associated with his or her position to any employee in the Department of Finance. If a conflict should arise concerning any assigned duty or duties of the Finance Director and such conflict can not be resolved by permitting a subordinate within the Department to handle the task, then the Finance Director shall request Council to assign his or her duty or duties to another officer in the City with respect to such matter and Council is empowered to do so.
(c) General Powers and Duties. The Finance Director shall be the chief accounting, financial and fiscal officer of the City and shall have those powers and perform those duties customarily held and performed by finance directors, auditors, clerks (may, but not necessarily to be construed as clerk of councils) and treasurers of cities under the laws of Ohio.
(d) Specific Powers and Duties. The Finance Director shall have the following power, authority, and perform the following duties:
(1) To assist the Budget Committee in preparing the annual budget and appropriation program as directed by Council and after adoption thereof, to be jointly responsible with the City Manager for its administration; moreover, to prepare and submit to the Council as of the end of the fiscal year a complete financial report of the City government for the preceding year;
(2) To keep Council advised of the financial condition and future needs of the City, and make such recommendations as the Finance Director may deem desirable;
(3) To recommend to Council a standard schedule of pay for each office and position in the City service under the Finance Director's control, including minimum, intermediate, and maximum rates;
(4) To attend all Council meetings, unless excused from attendance by the Council President or by Council. He or she shall have the right to participate in Council meetings, but not to vote;
(5) To award and execute all contracts or agreements specifically pertaining to the Finance Department, subject to approval by Council as determined by Council;
(6) To be responsible for the accounting, collection, control and custody of public funds and disbursements;
(7) To countersign all bonds and notes issued by the City;
(8) To appoint a subordinate as Acting Finance Director in his or her temporary absence, other than an absence due to suspension. When appointment is made by the Finance Director, the Acting City Finance Director and Finance Director shall have concurrent powers and duties during the Finance Director's temporary absence. Any appointment of an Acting Finance Director by Council pursuant to their authority, shall supersede any appointment made by the Finance Director;
(9) To generally manage and oversee the operations of subordinate departments under the Department of Finance, including the prescribing of general rules and regulations therefor;
(10) To keep the books of the City and exhibit accurate and complete statements of all monies received and expended, of all property owned by the City and the income derived therefrom, and of all taxes and assessments;
(11) At the end of each fiscal year, or more often if required by Council, the Finance Director shall cause to be examined and audited the accounts of all City officers and departments and report his or her findings to Council, in a format as determined by the Finance Director, no later than June 30th of the immediately following year. The Finance Director shall prescribe the form of accounts and reports to be rendered to the Finance Department, the form and method of keeping accounts by all other officers and departments, and shall have the inspection and revision thereof. Upon the death, resignation, removal, or expiration of the term of any officer, the Finance Director shall audit the accounts of the officer and, if such officer is found indebted to the City, the Finance Director shall immediately give notice thereof to Council and to the Law Director and take necessary action to proceed forthwith to collect the indebtedness;
(12) The Finance Director shall not allow the amount set aside for any appropriation to be overdrawn, allow the amount appropriated for one item of expense to be drawn upon for any other purpose, or allow a voucher to be paid unless sufficient funds are in the Treasury of the City to the credit of the fund upon which such voucher is drawn. When any claim is presented to the Finance Director, he or she may require evidence that such claim is lawfully due and owing;
(13) The Finance Director shall keep an accurate, systematized, and detailed record of the receipts, disbursements, assets, and liabilities of the City. The recorded facts shall be presented periodically to Council in such summaries and analytical schedules as shall be necessary to show the full effect of such transactions for each fiscal year upon the finances of the City and in relation to each City department, including distinct summaries and schedules for each public utility owned or operated;
(14) The Finance Director may require that daily reports be made to him or her by each City department, showing the receipt of all monies by such department and the disposition thereof. He or she shall keep an account of all appropriations made by Council and all expenditures made or contracted to be made under such appropriations;
(15) The Finance Director shall draw his or her warrant on the Treasury to the order of the person to whom payment is lawfully due and owing, which warrant shall specify the fund upon which it is drawn. No payment, however, of any claim shall be deemed as lawful and subject to payment by the Finance Director unless it is pursuant to and in strict compliance with an appropriation by Council and written or electronic approval by the director or department head in which the obligation was incurred;
(16) The Finance Director and his or her sureties shall be liable to the City for all loss or damage sustained by the City by reason of the negligent or unlawful approval of any claim against the City in his or her department. If the Finance Director shall draw a warrant for any claim contrary to law, ordinance, resolution, or other act of Council, he or she and his or her sureties shall be liable, individually and jointly, for the amount thereof;
(17) Unless otherwise specifically prescribed by law, ordinance, resolution, or other act of Council, the Finance Director shall be the custodian of all monies belonging to or due and owing to the City and, subject to the provisions of any specific trust, of all monies held in trust by it. He or she shall keep, preserve, deposit, and disburse the same as directed and provided by law, ordinance, resolution, or other act of Council;
(18) The Finance Director shall demand and receive from the County Treasurer, when due the City, taxes levied and assessments made and certified to the County Auditor by authority of Council and by the County Auditor placed on the tax list for collection, and from persons authorized to collect or required to pay them, monies accruing to the City from judgments, fines, penalties, forfeitures, licenses, and other debts lawfully due and owing to the City;
(19) When bids are required to be filed for the letting of contracts by the City, the Finance Director/designee shall attend and assist at the opening thereof and inspect them for the determination of conformance for reading purposes;
(20) To be the Clerk of Council, unless otherwise provided by Council, and shall be responsible for the record of Council, Committees, Commissions, and Board proceedings and of all rules, by-laws, ordinances, resolutions and motions passed or adopted. This provision does not bar the Finance Director from assigning the task of taking the minutes and overseeing the above mentioned documents; however, the Finance Director is ultimately responsible therefor;
(21) The Finance Director shall keep an accurate, systematized, and detailed account of:
A. All moneys received by him/her, showing the amount thereof, the date received, from whom, and on what account received; and,
B. All disbursements made by him/her, showing the amount thereof, the date made, to whom, and on what account paid;
(22) The Finance Director shall so arrange his/her books and/or files so that the amount received and paid on account of separate funds, or specified appropriations, shall be exhibited in separate accounts;
(23) The Finance Director, upon his or her resignation or removal, shall deliver to his or her successor all monies, books, files, papers, and other property in his or her possession as Finance Director. In the case of the death or incapacity of the Finance Director, his or her legal representative in like manner shall deliver the monies and property which were in the Finance Director's hands to the person entitled thereto;
(24) The Finance Director shall have such powers and shall have such functions and duties as are required by Chapter 193 Income Tax;
(25) The Finance Director shall supervise and direct the billing and collection of electric, water, sewer, sanitation, cemetery, and other receivables due the City;
(26) The Finance Director shall publish, or cause to be published, all ordinances, resolutions, and other acts of Council and all other reports and documents which are required to be published by any ordinance, resolution, or other act of Council or by law;
(27) The Finance Director shall maintain insurance claims, policies, and files pertaining to the City and/or its employees;
(28) The Finance Director shall maintain an investment plan for the City;
(29) The Finance Director shall certify funds for expenditures when appropriate;
(30) The Finance Director shall report the Department's activities to Council and to the City Manager on a regular basis and as otherwise requested by Council or by the City Manager. In addition, except where prohibited by law, the Finance Director shall provide Council, the City Manager, and the City Law Director with all information and documentation concerning City affairs and business that any of them may request from time to time. In addition, the Finance Director shall provide on a timely basis to Council, the City Manager, and the City Law Director all information and documentation within the possession or control of the Finance Director and assistants thereto, if any, that may reasonably be needed by them to make accurate and responsible decisions concerning the City's interest and welfare including, but not limited to, all reports that may be formally requested and all self-generated reports where the Finance Director has access to information or documentation that he/she knows or reasonably should know is relevant to a matter under consideration by Council, the City Manager, or the City Law Director; and,
(31) To have such other powers and perform such other duties, not inconsistent with or contrary to this chapter, as Council may provide.
(Ord. 38-01. Passed 5-7-01.)