Mason City council to consider hiring new finance director, who will also be deputy city administrator

MASON CITY — The City Council in Mason City this afternoon will hold a special session to consider a new Finance Director who will also be the city’s deputy city administrator.

City Administrator Aaron Burnett in a memo to the council says with the unexpected death of long-time Finance Director Kevin Jacobson last month, he assessed the long-term needs of the city and created the new position of Deputy City Administrator/Finance Director to replace the Finance Director position.

The new position will retain all of the existing responsibilities of Finance Director and also formalizes the role of the position as Acting City Administrator in the City Administrator’s absence, and would allow Burnett to assign the person to act on his behalf for a wide variety of boards, commissions, standing committees, departments and meetings.

After accepting applications for the position and commencing a statewide search for candidates, Burnett is recommending that Brent Hinson, the current city administrator in the eastern Iowa community of Washington, for the position. Hinson has been the city administrator there since 2011 and was the city administrator in Garner for six years. He also served two years as the Finance Director and City Clerk in Iowa Falls.

The council’s special meeting starts at 4 o’clock this afternoon in a virtual format.