Swatara Township commissioners hire board president as finance ...

Swatara Township commissioners recently replaced the municipal finance officer they fired with their board president.

Commissioners, who last month fired John Guerrisi from the post, replaced him with Timothy Berard, president of the board of commissioners. The finance director oversees all revenues and expenditures of the township, including payroll.

Berard, who accepted the position after leaving his job as Dauphin County Department of Economic Development finance coordinator, will be paid $53,000 annually

?As a commissioner, Tim Berard has dealt with the township finances,? said Paul Cornell, Swatara Twp. manager. ?He has chaired the township finance committee and worked on township budgets. The board drafted him because the board trusts his judgment on financial matters.?

Amy Sturges, spokeswoman of the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Commissioners, and David Wion, Swatara Twp. solicitor, said that Berard?s hiring is permitted under the Pennsylvania First Class Township Code.

?As long as he abstains from voting on anything that affects him, it?s fine,? Sturges said. ?More and more, it takes people who know finances and what it takes to run a municipal government to do that job. Experience in government is very important.?

Berard said that his positions as both finance officer and as commissioner involve looking out for the taxpayer. ?I never looked for the finance officer job,? Berard said. ?The board offered it to me. I was surprised.?

Cornell declined to discuss details of Guerrisi?s dismissal, calling it ?a personnel matter."

Source: http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2011/07/swatara_township_commissioners_2.html

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