Superintendent Dr. Lynn Moody is hoping to hire a new chief financial officer as soon as possible with the help of a consultant service.

The Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education held a meeting on Monday. The board members discussed using School Efficiency Consultants to help hire a new CFO.

Tara Trexler, the current CFO for the Rowan-Salisbury School System, will be resigning from her position in January.

“Tara Trexler is the best CFO I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with,” Moody said.

Moody praised Trexler for her work as a CFO and told the board she wanted to quickly find a replacement.

“I’m panicked, I don’t mind telling you,” she said.

Hank Hurd, a founding partner of the consulting service and senior consultant for Governmental Advisory Service for Rives & Associates, LLP, gave a short presentation about the services he would be able to provide.

Hurd said the company would help the system recruit a new financial officer, train that officer and also check back in with the new hire to answer any questions.

Hurd said the company has been involved with finding school finance officers for about six other boards.

“We’re available to help try to locate the individual, train them and make sure that they learn the right ways of managing,” Hurd said.

Hurd said it is important find someone who does more than crunch numbers.

“I think the best finance officers I know of are ones that integrate themselves into the instructional programs in the district and learn not only to manage numbers but become part of the central office leadership team,” Hurd said.

The consulting fee is $5,000.

“I think it’s more than worth the investment,” Moody said. “I thought it was a very reasonable fee because the kind of training or the checking in that (the new CFO) needs during the first year are not questions I would be able to answer for them,” Moody said.

The consulting fee is based on an hourly rate. Hurd said he expects the process to take 40 hours, and if the hours exceeded the $5,000 amount, the company would then seek a supplemental contract.

Moody said she talked with other superintendents, and they have said Hurd and his company are the best at what they do.

At the end of the discussion, Chairman Josh Wagner said it was Moody’s call on the decision to hire the company, and Moody said she would be moving ahead with the process.

In other business, the board:

• Approved in a 4-3 vote to have the Wallace Educational Forum dedication plaque include the names of the current school board and county commission members, as well as former school board members L.A. Overcash and Kay Wright Norman, and  former county commissioners Jim Sides, Jon Barber and Chad Mitchell. Also included will be Superintendent Lynn Moody, Assistant Superintendent Julie Morrow, Assistant Superintendent Anthony Vann and County Manager Aaron Church.
• Discussed the parental consent for student participation in Department of Education-funded surveys and whether students should participate in the surveys at all.
• Discussed the hiring/re-hiring process for teaching assistants and the necessary educational requirements.

Contact reporter Amanda Raymond at 704-797-4222.