The Bainbridge city finance director is leaving his post after it was revealed last week that the city’s savings account is nearly empty.
Elray Konkel, who has worked as the city’s finance director for six years, said he and the city manager determined on Monday that it would be best for the city that he leave. His last day will be Friday.
Konkel drew the City Council’s ire last week when it was disclosed that the $1 million in cuts the council made earlier this year was not put into a savings reserve as the council had ordered. Instead, most of the money was spent on the city’s day-to-day operations.
Konkel promptly accepted responsibility for the mistake, which he attributed to miscommunication between himself and the council.
“I’m still trying to ascertain what (the council) believed was to be the affect of the million dollar change,” he said. “But what difference does it make? If (the savings reserve) is what the council believed was happening, that’s what should have happened.”
