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6 FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | JULY 2017 By Leighton McLaughlin Two Four Seasons residents have been appointed treasurer and clerk of the city of Beaumont. Both jobs are part-time elective positions. The appointments were made to fill unexpected vacancies when the incumbents resigned. Both Sharon Geiser, the treasurer, and Donna Pfeiffer, the clerk, had demonstrated interest in city government by regularly attending council meetings. Both positions came open earlier this year when the incumbents, Clerk Julio Martinez III and Treasurer Nancy Carroll, were elected to the City Council. Geiser and Pfeiffer applied, passed the qualifying exams and interviews and were selected. They joined a government recovering from a scandal in which the city manager, police chief and five others were indicted for embezzlement and other charges. DONNA PFEIFFER, CITY CLERK Donna Pfeiffer said it would be fair to say that the primary purpose of her job as city clerk is to act as an overseer of the members of Beaumont city government. And she is optimistic about what she sees. "I think everyone" in city government "has the best interests of the city at heart," she said. "I can't speak for the earlier group. I didn't know them." She has a background in office management – most recently at a VA clinic in Palm Desert – which qualified her for the position. She has found the city staff, "very helpful" in helping her learn her new job as city clerk. She is responsible for such things as keeping all city records, access to those records and running city elections. Her primary assistant is Deputy City Clerk Nicole Wheelwright, a full-time professional, "who does an amazing job." The new management of the city, under City Manager Todd Parton, "is phenomenal – very bright and very creative and works very hard. I think we're going to be good." The city recently settled a lawsuit filed by Riverside County that will allow repayment of some of the missing funds – "a big chunk of the money owed" - under very favorable terms. "Whether we're going to get that stolen money back, I don't know; but that's not what (Parton) is working on. He's working to get us back where we should be." As a result, by the end of next year, she said, "instead of being in the red… we will have sufficient funds to have everything we need funded and all our reserves where they should be." "I'm really pleased with what I see." SHARON GEISER, CITY TREASURY "I see myself as the eyes of the public," said Sharon Geiser. This position is the oversight of all financial operations of the city. That works out to a real bargain for the taxpayer – her take-home pay from the part-time job is some $62 a month; "but this is more about community service than a high paid job," said Geiser. The day-to-day accounting operation of the office is handled by Melana Tailor, director of finance, who is a full time professional. Geiser brings a wealth of accounting and bookkeeping experience to her new job. She worked her way up the corporate ladder to being the chief financial executive of a small company, then opened her own bookkeeping firm and later worked for eight years as a consultant to other bookkeepers. Most of her knowledge came on the job, even though she has taken two years of community college accounting courses. She feels Beaumont is making solid progress recovering from the scandals of May last year when City Manager Alan Kapkanacis, Police Chief Frank Coe and five others were arrested. All have pled not-guilty and trials are pending. "We have a really good city manager now, Todd Parton," Geiser said. "He's from Texas and has no connection with the past here. A lot of progress has already been made with Mr. Parton at the helm. The WRCOG (Western Riverside Council of Governments) lawsuit has been settled and the city should be in a positive cash situation by the end of this year." She is uncertain what financial liability the city faces in the wake of the scandal, but said negotiations are going on to recover funds from those accused and to have other obligations forgiven by other government agencies involved. She hopes the government can be more transparent. A new system of computer accounting is being installed to that end. "We should be more involved – we have to get people involved," so this kind of thing won't happen again, she said. Two Four Seasons Residents Help Run City Government (L-R) Sharon Geiser and Donna Pfeiffer are welcomed to Beaumont city goverment

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