HOLLIDAYSBURG - Blair County commissioners have hired a finance director and an elections director who will play key roles in the coming weeks as county leaders continue to monitor finances and prepare November's presidential election.
Timothy Brown of Duncansville, a certified public accountant and co-owner of Advertising and Marketing Fulfillment Co., Altoona, is the first finance director.
Commissioners Terry Tomassetti and Diane Meling voted Tuesday to hire Brown at $55,000 annually. Commissioner Donna Gority was out of town on county business.
Commissioners also hired Ingrid Healy of Altoona to succeed Elections Director Shirley Crowl who resigned recently to take another job.
Healy was director of operations at the Central Pennsylvania Humane Society. She started her county job Monday at $28,000 annually and was in Erie Tuesday attending a conference for county election personnel.
Brown said he is aware of the county's tight financial picture and has a copy of the 2008 budget.
"Once I get through a learning curve ... I see my role as being one of helping out," Brown said.
Brown graduated from Penn State University in 1982 with a bachelor's degree in accounting, then went to work in financial jobs for companies in Texas, Pennsylvania, New York, Minnesota and Maryland.
He moved to Duncansville in 2004 after about 16 years of working for telecommunications companies including the Frontier Corp., formerly Rochester Telephone, Hickory Tech Corp. and CCG Consulting.
''I hope my experience in the telecommunications industry will help me ... where I've been through situations of trying to do more with less,'' Brown said.
Tomassetti said Brown was one of two candidates commissioners interviewed.
"I was impressed with his breadth of experience. ... He gave me the sense he would attack our problems," Tomassetti said.
Tomasseti, Meling and Gority voted in June to create the position. They said they wanted more financial information than they were getting, and asked the director to be responsible for preparing the annual budget, analyzing financial reports and working with county departments on efforts that will bring in revenue or save money.
