East Spencer hires first CFO – Salisbury Post

EAST SPENCER — For the first time in its history, the city has hired a chief financial officer, a sign that East Spencer’s growth is not only strong, but expected to last.

On Oct. 1, Ashley McFarland of Charlotte joined the city’s leadership team as its first chief financial officer, and she couldn’t be happier.

McFarland graduated from NC Central University with a degree in financial management and administration in 2016. She grew up in Goldsboro and moved to Charlotte in 2017 after graduation.

But finding a job in the world of finance proved challenging, so she spent time working as a nanny while still looking. Then a friend told her about East Spencer, the job and the community, and she “felt it was the right opportunity.”

From the beginning, McFarland said it was a lot of preparation and a lot of learning about the city and its needs, but she’s starting to put her stamp on the position as well.

“The job and I can grow together, which is exciting,” she said. One of her first priorities was updating the city with audits, which should be completed in the next week or two. At this point, she has all the information gathered and sorted, so now she puts it into an Excel spreadsheet, the final step. She also worked on creating a unified format for collecting information and putting it into a single system as the year goes on, rather than having to gather it all at once.

Her other priority is exploring available grants and, when appropriate, making sure the city applies, something City Manager Michael Douglas is also happy about.

“I think it’s phenomenal to have a CFO,” Douglas said. The city’s budget and funding had grown so much, with East Spencer receiving large state grants and CDBG funds, “but we didn’t have the ability to hire someone in-house. We outsourced our financial management.” He said there wouldn’t be anything wrong with the company they were using, but it meant the city had to share the company’s time and attention. Now with an in-house director, McFarland can focus solely on East Spencer, knowing the city’s needs and what’s important to the community.

“Audits, grants, funding sources, she’ll have the time and direction to focus on all of that,” Douglas said. He said the goal, going forward, will also be for the CFO to be able to provide guidance in budgeting because he will be familiar with how the budget works, as well as future needs and priorities.

When the city voted to create the position earlier this fall, Mayor Barbara Mallett said she was “so proud of East Spencer for the progress we’ve made and are making. Getting to the point where we’re ready to hire someone to manage our finances, just for us, is a big step, but one that should make people feel good.”

McFarland is working to create a comprehensive program for the city, and she and Douglas said they have met with the city of Spencer for some advice and guidance.

“They’ve been great about sharing information about what we need, how we need to handle things, just really helpful,” Douglas said.

“We’re still in the learning phase,” McFarland said, “but we’re only a few weeks into actual training. Then we can start building our schedule in earnest.”