Sellers selected as interim county finance director

The Madison County financial management committee looked to a familiar face to handle the County’s finances on an interim basis for the foreseeable future.

Michelle Sellers, who’s served in circuit court as deputy clerk and bookkeeper, will be the interim financial manager. Before she moved to circuit court, Sellers was the deputy financial manager until Circuit Court Clerk Gail Mooney asked her to join her staff after she was elected in 2022.

Sellers is temporarily moving back to the finance department to fill in for the vacancy left by the retirement of Karen Bell, who announced her retirement during the Madison County Commission meeting on June 17.

Bell’s retirement ends one portion of months of unrest around the finance department that began in April when Bell was reprimanded by members of the financial management committee and went on a leave of absence before returning for a little more than a month.

Sellers was appointed the interim position during the committee’s meeting on June 25. The committee also met to determine the process of finding the next permanent director.

In addition to Bell’s exit, four key positions in the finance department are either already vacant or will be soon. A subcommittee of financial management had already been established in helping hire the next deputy finance director.

That action was suspended, and the subcommittee’s purpose then became to narrow down the list of applicants for director to finalists that would interview with the full committee.

The committee moved to replace Bell on the subcommittee with Commissioner Jeff Wall.

Mayor A.J. Massey disagreed with this decision, saying he felt it added an unnecessary layer to the process of hiring the new finance director. It also added the ability to hide possible managers from the full committee when the subcommittee is made mostly of finance committee members in the first place.

Others on the committee including Commissioner Gary Deaton and Highway Superintendent Bart Walls said subcommittees have been used in the past to hire past finance directors.

Commissioners Tony Black and Aaron Ellison voiced their disagreement with the method because the subcommittee’s meetings has to be public just like the finance committee’s. So why not eliminate that middle layer of committee meetings and simply allow the finance committee to be fully involved in doing one of the main items in its job description: Hiring the finance director.

Massey made a motion to dissolve the subcommittee, but no one seconded it, so it failed.

Human Resources Director Terica Smith suggested there be a cooling off period of maybe 30 days before the job is officially posted to possibly widen the scope of those who might apply for the job, saying incidents that have been reported in local media might keep some people from applying if they were to do internet searches related to the job opening.

The committee approved that, and Sellers will begin working on Monday, July 1, as the interim finance director.

Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news