The Sandwich City Council is considering whether to ask residents if the city treasurer should be abolished as an elected position.
The issue was discussed at the Dec. 18 Sandwich City Council meeting. The position has been vacant since May.
“Most of our municipalities actually already have these positions as appointed positions and not elected,” Sandwich city attorney Cassandra Gottschalk told council members at the meeting. “It’s not uncommon whatsoever. The main question I would have is what we’re going to be doing with this position.”
She is preparing a resolution for the City Council to consider at its Jan. 2 meeting in order to put the question to voters on the November general election ballot.
“In 2020-2021, nobody ran for the office, [and] therefore there was not an election,” Sandwich Mayor Todd Latham said after the meeting.
Because there was a vacancy, Latham – with advisement from the City Council – appointed someone to fill the vacancy. After appointing someone to fill the vacancy, the person declined to be reappointed.
“I made another appointment, and that person also declined to be reappointed, so we just left it vacant,” Latham said.
The City Council has been using the city clerk/city collector, the city administrator and Latuerbach and Amen accounting firm to help oversee the city’s finances.
During the meeting, Latham read the most recent treasurer report, which shows that the city in good financial shape, he said.
As of Nov. 30, the city had a cash balance of more than $13 million, he said.