The West Tisbury select board Wednesday began the process of finding a replacement for its longtime town accountant Bruce Stone, who will be officially stepping down from his role in the beginning of June.
Stone announced his plans to retire after 20 years of service last fall. Upon the board’s accepting of his resignation during a November meeting, Stone shared that he’d be more than willing to help during the transition to his successor.
The town accountant/finance director is charged with recording and maintaining the town’s financial records, reviewing all municipal payments, and managing the expenditures of all town departments. Additionally, the position calls for substantial knowledge of and adherence to the state’s accounting laws and the department of revenue reporting regulations, along with the ability to serve as the town’s primary resource for the drafting and publication of annual budget requests.
This week, Stone, along with select board members, the town administrator, and town treasurer, participated in preliminary interviews of two possible candidates, Chelsea Joiner and Dan Carbon. A third candidate is expected to appear for an interview in the near future.
Joiner, who holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting, has most recently been employed by a large Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, and touted significant managerial experience and large-scale auditing work. Carbon, the former owner of Vineyard Haven’s EduComp building, has a background in finance and business management.
In other business, due to a 2.2 percent increase of this year’s total budget, which town officials say is largely due to expected school expenses, the select board unanimously voted in favor of allowing an override question on the annual town meeting warrant requesting $720,000 for the up-Island regional school budget.