Hello, goodbye in Springfield finance office

here’s a changing of the guard underway in the town’s finance office.
http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20150904/NEWS02/709049931

Published September 4, 2015 in the Rutland Herald Hello, goodbye in Springfield finance office By SUSAN SMALLHEER Staff Writer SPRINGFIELD — There’s a changing of the guard underway in the town’s finance office. Town Manager Tom Yennerell this week announced the hiring of Cathy Sohngen of Claremont, N.H., as the town’s new finance director, replacing town comptroller Jeff Mobus, who resigned after 14 years on the job. Sohngen, 37, has been working half days as the town’s finance director, as the job has been renamed by Yennerell, working with Mobus before his last day next Monday. Sohngen was eager to work side by side with Mobus for as long as she could, Yennerell said, and she started Monday. Sohngen, who has a master’s degree in accounting and finance from Southern New Hampshire University, is currently working at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center as a grant manager. She previously worked for the medical center as a financial and budget analyst, and for Tufts University as a senior grant accountant. She has also worked for Dartmouth College and Sturm Ruger Co. in Newport, N.H. She received her bachelor’s degree from Granite State College in Claremont, N.H., graduating in 2007. She will be paid $72,000, Yennerell said. Yennerell said 15 people applied for the finance director’s job, and five people were interviewed by the hiring committee including himself, Town Clerk Barbara Courchesne and Steve Hier, the finance director for the Springfield school system. “She has a great background, great skills and great technical skills,” said Yennerell, who started working for the town last November. “It’s definitely a move up for her,” he said. Mobus is leaving to become the chief financial officer for Health Care and Rehabilitation Services, which has its headquarters in Springfield. His fellow Springfield town employees had a punch and cake reception for him Thursday afternoon, and it turned into a mini-roast thanks to the repartee between Mobus and retired Town Manager Robert Forguites, who hired Mobus 14 years ago. Forguites said the late Clinton Martin, the town’s longtime recreation director, had urged Forguites to hire Mobus, who was coming back home to Springfield 14 years ago after working in Italy. Over lunch at the Hartness House, Forguites said he learned he and Mobus shared the same philosophy of finances: Don’t spend money until you have to. Over the years, Mobus had opportunities to move on, Forguites said. “Luckily for us, he stayed,” he said. That earned a riposte from Mobus for his former boss, now a state representative. “I am cheap, but he is frugal,” Mobus said, prompting laughter from the gathering. “That’s what he said, and I won’t argue with him,” Forguites added.