
HAMDEN — Curtis Eatman, Hamden’s former finance-turned-economic improvement director, is coming again to authorities heart.
Eatman left the city in Might to take over Bloomfield’s finance division, he mentioned.
It will be a short while away.
The latest departure of Scott Jackson, who served as finance director over the past 9 months of Mayor Curt Balzano Leng’s time period, left the submit empty when Mayor Lauren Garrett took workplace in November.
Garrett introduced Tuesday she was appointing Eatman to the place.
“As quickly as I took workplace we had been motivated — very motivated — to search for a finance director, and there have been so many compliments about Curtis Eatman’s management model,” Garrett mentioned. “He was very proactive about working with everybody within the finance division and giving them suggestions on job efficiency.”
She reached out to Eatman, who was prepared to renew the job. Eatman will begin Jan. 10, based on a launch from Garrett’s workplace. He’s thought of “performing” finance director till the Legislative Council votes to approve his appointment.
“We’re actually excited to get him again,” Garrett mentioned.
Eatman took the helm of the finance division in early 2020, simply earlier than the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A yr into Eatman’s tenure, Leng, the previous mayor, made a sequence of adjustments to city management. He introduced Jackson in to run the finance division and appointed Eatman as financial improvement director.
After a number of months in his new place, Eatman opted to take the Bloomfield job. Now he’s excited to return again to Hamden, he mentioned.
“I type of felt that enterprise was left unfinished,” he mentioned. “To get an opportunity to return again to that could be a pleasure.”
Eatman goals to “proceed to enhance the city’s funds,” he mentioned.
In a city that boasts one of many highest space tax charges and had highest per capita debt statewide in 2019, that’s no straightforward process.
However Eatman, who beforehand served as deputy commissioner of finance for Schenectady, N.Y., and as a senior fiscal analyst for the New York state Senate, appears unfazed.
“It’s an excellent alternative to return again,” he mentioned. “I’m grateful for Mayor Garrett’s appointment and her belief and confidence, and I’m actually grateful for the chance to work with such an exquisite finance workers and an exquisite workforce within the city of Hamden.”
Correction: An earlier model listed the inaccurate day of the announcement. Garrett introduced the appointment on Tuesday.