By Doug Gulasy

Published: Tuesday, February 19, 2013, 2:27 p.m.
Updated: Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Collier's population increased nearly 35 percent between the 2000 and 2010 census.

That kind of growth necessitated more financial oversight, manager Sal Sirabella said, and the board of commissioners took a step in that direction by hiring the first finance director in township history.

Jeff Hinds began work Feb. 18 as the township's finance director after commissioners unanimously approved his hiring at their Feb. 13 meeting.

“Because the community has grown so dramatically over the last 10 years, we need to make sure our funds are managed properly and we get the best monitoring of our budget,” Sirabella said. “So the primary responsibility is that this person will manage and supervise all financial operations with the goal of using available resources and direct all changes as needed.”

Hinds, a 25-year Collier resident and certified public accountant, graduated from then-Waynesburg College in 1979 and has more than 30 years of accounting experience.

He worked primarily at Bell Federal Savings and Loan in Bellevue and became a self-employed CPA when Bell merged with Northwest Savings Bank in 2003.

The Collier job marks his first municipal position.

“I thought it seemed interesting,” he said.

As finance director, Hinds will help to build the township's annual budget and monitor the various' departments' expenditures throughout the year for budget compliance.

“Those two go hand in hand,” Sirabella said.

Additionally, Hinds will be responsible for helping to develop a five-year operating and capital plan.

Currently, Sirabella said, the township operates on an annual plan. The five-year plan will take into account projects and programs planned for the next five years and will look at ways to fund them. This will help determine priorities.

“You don't want to be shortsighted, obviously,” Hinds said. “You want to look out as far as you can. Obviously, if you're projecting out five years down the road, an awful lot of things can change, so it's a very fluid type of a situation. Nothing is cast in stone, especially when you get out that far. But … (it's) just kind of looking out and seeing what can be done. How do we get from point A to point B?”

Doug Gulasy is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-380-8527 or dgulasy@tribweb.com.

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