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New chief financial officer on Garfield Re-2 District radar

The Garfield Re-2 district is currently seeking a new chief financial officer.

David Trautenberg, who assumed the role on March 17, 2020, is set to end his final days as district CFO before the start of the 2021-2022 school year. Trautenburg was hired essentially on an interim basis, taking over for former CFO Mike Rynkiewicz when he announced his retirement in February 2020.

Prior to Rynkieweicz’s retirement, he had taken over for longtime director of finance Christy Hamrick, who left the district in July 2018.



District spokesperson Theresa Hamilton praised Trautenberg’s efforts in his brief period as CFO.

“When David (Trautenberg) came to us in March of 2020, I tell you what, we definitely need someone with some financial acumen, and because of COVID, he was able to reach into his Rolodex to provide great service staff,” she said. “He’s done a great service to the families and communities of the Re-2 school district. He was the right person at the right time to help us with some specific issues.”



The 2018-2019 audit presented major challenges for the district, including some findings of material weaknesses, misstatements of financial statements and deficiencies of reconciliation of accounts, among other issues.

According to the district, the routine audit found a surplus of $4 million. The 2018-2019 budget had originally anticipated a $221,754 deficit.

During this time, now former district superintendent Brent Curtice’s contract was terminated. The district cited “personnel issues” for not openly disclosing why the school board voted to terminate Curtice’s contract.

Meanwhile, the district reported discovering in early March another $4.48 million in the budget. This time the district said “a slide presentation was caught internally, corrected” and later presented to the board.

As of last week, Hamilton said the board had received applications and interviewed three people but had yet to approve any hires. In addition, the district held an open house meet and greet with prospective CFOs.

“We are looking for someone obviously committed to the mission so we can provide a fair compensation package to and help them not only grow in our organization but grow as professionals and people,” Hamilton said. “We’ll hopefully have a candidate that will want to come and join our team.”

The district has approved and is offering between $120,000 to $140,000 for the new position.

Reporter Ray K. Erku can be reached at 612-423-5273 or rerku@postindependent.com


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