The Troy City Council unanimously approved a new comptroller and corporation counsel following questioning Thursday night.
The City of Troy has brought on a new comptroller after hiring an outside company to close last year’s books. Dylan Spring previously worked for the City of Albany’s Department of General Services where he served as Chief Financial Manager for three years.
In an effort to keep the city’s finances on track, new Republican Mayor Carmella Mantello hired ProNexus, a third-party accounting firm that had previously worked with the city’s auditor.
Shortly before Mantello took office in January, City Comptroller Andy Piotrowski stepped down.
Mantello says Spring has the experience for the role.
“He brought some out of the box ideas in terms of how can we be more efficient; how can they potentially save some money but also capitalize on grants,” Mantello said.
Before the hearing, Council President Sue Steele expressed concerned about Spring’s qualifications. The Democrat says she is cautious but optimistic about Spring’s prospects in a city that only recently emerged from decades of fiscal stress.
“I thought he handled the questions very well,” Steele said. “I look forward to him learning in the job, I see that he definitely has the potential for that. When he succeeds, the city succeeds. So, we certainly want him to succeed.”
Spring says he plans to meet with department heads to see where their needs lie.
“My job, I believe, is to not just start cutting, but to look at what we can cut based on the professional opinions of the department heads to make sure that they are still getting the necessary items and things that they need, but also making sure that there's not overspending on things that we might not need,” Spring said.
Spring adds he would like to see updates to the city’s technology services. He says they could help save the city money in the long run.
“There's way easier reports, way easier interfaces, all this stuff that I think would be way more beneficial to the city and our financial and recording and capturing,” Spring said. “So that's something that I want to really work on with the city is trying to get that stuff. Our timekeeping is really archaic. I think that needs to be updated ASAP. I think that as a former auditor, I'm still baffled that we just put in numbers for hours that we work for the day and that’s it.”
New Corporation Counsel Dana Salazar was also questioned by the council at Thursday night’s hearing. Like Mantello, Salazar is also the first woman in her role.
Salazar is a managing partner at Salazar and Erikson, having served as special appellate counsel for Rensselaer County and assigned counsel in Columbia County.
Salazar says she plans to prioritize FOIA requests and expects to see an expansion to the city’s available legal research to ensure the city has access to up to date information.
“I would like to look into how we're storing documents in the legal department and see whether we're being efficient and how we're storing information so that it's readily accessible,” Salazar said. “Even if you haven't been here for a long time.”
Steele says she has some concerns about organization.
“I remain concerned that the corporation counsel serves both the council and the mayor,” Steele said. “I've always felt that the council should have its own legal staff but she seemed willing to navigate that those waters so I look forward to working with her.”
