Editor's note: This version corrects the salary for Robert Funk.

New London — School Superintendent Manuel J. Rivera on Wednesday announced the appointment of former school board member and Board of Finance chairman Robert Funk to the newly created position of executive director of finance.   

The announcement comes as Mayor Michael Passero, who appointed his own finance director earlier this year as required by charter, has placed on hold the search for a chief financial officer to oversee what is supposed to eventually be a consolidated city and school finance department.

Passero said the plan to merge finance departments is ongoing, but the planned hiring of a joint CFO was halted because of the intricacies of the consolidation.

Passero said the city is city working to accommodate new software in anticipation of the merger and “getting our departments working together.”

“That’s still going to happen eventually but it can’t happen right now,” Passero said. “(Rivera) and I are working very closely on the merger. Everybody is still committed to that.”

He expects it will take up to two years for a joint chief financial officer to be in place. Funk was one of the top candidates for that position.

The consolidation of the city and school finance departments was one of the requirements to the district’s release from state supervision and also a requirement for the city to be able to appropriate any of the $168 million in bonding, a portion of which will be used to build the two new schools accommodating grades 6-12 .

The position is to be paid jointly by the city and school district.

Rivera said he and Passero remain committed to the unification, which he said will benefit the schools and city as a whole.

“We’re in agreement, and we’re working this out together,” Rivera said.

In the meantime, Passero said the school district and city need their own finance directors to oversee their own finances while at the same time working together toward the transition.

In addition to Finance Director Don Gray on the city side, former finance director Jeff Smith is working as a consultant and involved in the merger preparation.

The school system has a director of business and finance, Melissa Flores-Seijo.

But Rivera said Wednesday the magnet school transition and its many facets, along with the planned merger of city and school finance departments, has left the district “woefully understaffed” in the finance department.

He said Funk’s hire would also free him up to work on strategic initiatives.

“He is incredibly knowledgeable and a master of numbers,” Rivera said of Funk. “Any superintendent will tell you that what you need to have is accurate, reliable numbers you are dealing with. He brings that skillset in addition to the highest level of integrity, trust and professionalism to the work that he has done.”

Funk was one of two staff announcements following a 4-1 vote by the school board at a special meeting Wednesday to authorize Rivera to “proceed with the reorganization of central administration and secondary schools within budget parameters.”

Rivera also appointed Ivelise “Evie” Velazquez as chief academic officer. She was serving in the position on an interim basis and will earn a salary of $141,249.

School board members present praised the work of Funk and Velazquez and expressed confidence in Rivera’s abilities to choose his own cabinet members.

Jason Catala was the lone dissenting vote, questioning the selection process, asking why the measure was taken up at a special meeting and how the district could afford the new position.

He also asked whether it was a conflict of interest for Board of Education President Margaret Mary “Peg” Curtin to have served on a selection committee that led to the selection of Funk, the former vice chairman of the school board.

Curtin said there was not and had consulted with an attorney beforehand.

“I didn’t even know a hiring was happening. I’m concerned about the process,” Catala said. “The whole hiring process should have been more transparent.”

Funk will earn a $145,000 salary plus benefits.

Rivera said for the remainder of the fiscal year Funk will be paid the prorated amount of $27,326 from the so-called special master fund. That fund dries up as of June 30 since the district is no longer under state supervision.

Rivera said the school board had funded the joint CFO position in the approved budget, and he will ask the Board of Education to transfer funds to cover Funk’s salary.

Background on the school district’s two hires was not immediately available from the school system, but Funk’s LinkedIn page lists him as the director of business development analysis for Crescent Hotels & Resorts.

In the November school board election, Funk had tied fellow Democrat Aracelis Vazquez-Haye in votes. He lost the tiebreaker but was called on by the school district to act as a financial consultant during the budget process.

Velazquez was hired by the school system in 2014 as the supervisor of professional development and career management.

g.smith@theday.com