Finance Chief Keeps Tabs on City’s Books From Colorado

Jim Hanks decided long ago that at age 50 he would retire from his position as finance director for the city of Port Hueneme and move to the wide open plains of Colorado.

Hanks is 50. He’s moved to Colorado. But, somehow, he’s still the city’s finance director, working out of his house 1,200 miles from the city that employs him.

On Jan. 19, Hanks left the full-time position he’s held for 13 years and took on a part-time job doing, essentially, the same work. But now, his contract allows him to work mostly at home, just outside Rye, Colo.

Hanks visits Port Hueneme a minimum of one week each month to take care of administrative business and communicate with co-workers face to face, rather than by phone, fax and computer, as he does the rest of the time.

The change of status, if not duty, was a money-saving measure for the city, a product of tough economic times.

Hanks and Port Hueneme City Manager Dick Velthoen began hunting for Hanks’ replacement six months before the retirement date. While they were reviewing applications, Hanks made an offer to stay on in a limited capacity for one year to help the city save funds, he said.

Hanks’ salary and benefits package had been costing the city $100,000 annually. The city will now spend $35,000 a year on his salary, plus a projected $15,000 in travel, telephone and other expenses.

“Because of the state budget turmoil and the fact that we could see the city was going to lose money, we started evaluating things,” Hanks said.

The city’s projected budget for the current fiscal year was $6.7 million. Hanks said revenues will likely fall about $500,000 short of that, and he offered to stay on for about half of what he was making to help offset cash pressures.

“It’s a heck of a lot cheaper than replacing him,” Velthoen said. “Frankly I question the city’s ability to replace Jim in terms of quality. Getting quality amounts to an organization’s ability to pay, and we are in a competitive market.”

When he retired, Hanks was making $68,000 annually. That compares to top-scale salaries of $59,107 for the finance director position in Santa Paula, $83,886 for Ventura and $55,332 for Fillmore.

Hanks’ co-workers said the move has been tricky for them to adjust to, but it hasn’t hurt their work.

“When one person leaves, it affects everyone. There’s the day-to-day stuff, just so many different things,” said Vicki Martinez, an accountant in the city’s Finance Department.

Martinez said her work has increased tremendously since Hanks left.

“It’s definitely been a learning and growing experience for me,” she said. “He’s a phone call away, which is nice for questions that come up. We communicate by fax, and there in Colorado he’s able to call into the city via modem and access all records.”

The temporary arrangement has allowed Hanks and his wife, Western novelist Susan Harmon, to relocate to an area they had been eyeing for several years. The new scenery, Hanks said, is inspiration to his wife, and it serves as fodder for his rapidly growing interest in photography.

Aside from his occasional interstate commutes, the biggest difference between his job past and present is the view from his office, said Hanks, who is currently visiting Port Hueneme to deal with state and city budget concerns and controversial tax-assessment issues.

“I look out a sliding glass door and I’m looking out at the plains. It’s about as nice a place as you can hope to work. I look out the window on my right and I can see the hummingbirds.”

Hanks’ new office, with its homemade wooden desk and shelving, is on the bottom floor of his 3,700-square-foot home, which sits on 27 acres alongside Greenhorn Mountain. At night, Hanks said, he and his wife can see the lights of Pueblo, 60 miles to the northwest.

“You’re about 7,000 feet above sea level,” he said. “On a clear day you can see Kansas.”

Hanks said his four months in “post-retirement” have been busy. In addition to his work on the budget, Hanks has spent the time working closely with other department heads on a $26.7-million bond issue. He’s corresponded regularly with other branches of local government.

“Federal Express found me up there,” he said. “The first time it took them a week. Now they know me.”

Tom Figg, Port Hueneme’s director of city development, was among those who designed the bond issue. He said communicating by machine didn’t cause too much of a problem.

“It would be a lot easier if he were here,” Figg said. “But it certainly didn’t impair our ability to bring the issue to a close in a timely way.”

Velthoen said he has had a similar experience communicating with Hanks long distance.

“Obviously we can’t walk down the hall and talk to him,” Velthoen said. “But on the other hand, Jim’s experience, in terms of knowledge of the city . . . it would take somebody several years to gear up.”

Hanks’ involvement with Port Hueneme’s finances goes back further than the start of his tenure as finance director.

He worked for the J. E. Dering accounting firm for seven years prior to joining city staff. He audited the city’s budget on the job, he said. He began working for the city as an accountant in 1975, when Port Hueneme was preparing to receive a $4-million Community Development Block grant over a five-year period.

Hanks moved to Port Hueneme in 1959. His parents live in Oxnard and two of his three grown sons reside in Camarillo. But he doesn’t miss the area much, he said.

“I miss some of the people, but I don’t miss the day-to-day things I have to go through,” he said. “There’s such openness in Colorado. There’s no closed-in feeling with houses next to you. It’s so quiet, no automobile noise. It’s a totally relaxed lifestyle.”