The city has a new finance chief and auditor — two permanent positions that were vacant until a recent City Council meeting confirmed the names of those appointed, but not without discussion and a radical change of contract terms for the chief finance officer job. 

At the Nov. 25 meeting, a divided Council voted 6-3 to confirm Emily Arpke, who has served as the city’s interim CFO for months that have spanned terse budget talks and fiscal management of the city’s half-a-billion-dollar budget, as the new CFO with a one-year contract that carries an annual salary of $142,000. 

The Council voted 5-4 on a motion of City Councilor Cliff Ponte’s to add new terms to Arpke’s confirmation that said Arpke would need to be reconfirmed for the job after her one-year contract expires.

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