DERBY — The Derby Board of Aldermen & Alderwomen unanimously voted Thursday to hire Agata Herasimowicz as the city’s new finance director.
“We wish you the best of luck. We have a great city here. We have a lot of dedicated volunteers and employees. Most of us are lifelong residents. I personally look forward to your competence and professionalism,” First Ward Alderwoman Barbara L. DeGennaro said during a meeting that was held via Zoom.
DeGennaro was on a search committee that recommended Herasimowicz to the Alders.
Herasimowicz has a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from the University of Connecticut.
She has a long history in government finance.
Since 2019 she has worked for Tolland Public Schools as a financial accountant. Her previous municipal finance gigs include separate stints as the director of finance in the towns of Rocky Hill and Killingly. From 2007 to 2017 she was the assistant finance director for the Town of Tolland.
Her second job out of college was working as a staff accountant for three years at the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority (from 2004 until 2007).
“We’re so excited, I can’t wait for you to start,” said Mayor Richard Dziekan.
Herasimowicz is scheduled to start July 6. The job pays $110,000 annually.
Herasimowicz replaces interim finance director David Taylor, who was hired on a short-term basis to replace previous interim finance director Keith McLiverty, who left to take a job out of state.
McLiverty, the city’s former treasurer until losing a re-election bid to Walt Mayhew in 2019, had replaced Sal Coppola, who left his position in 2019 after holding it for about four years.
Herasimowicz is the sixth finance director since 2009, starting with Henry Domurad, then Tommy Thompson, then Coppola, then McLiverty, then Taylor, and now Herasimowicz.
Former mayor and one-time gubernatorial candidate Alan Schlesinger was almost a budget consultant for the city in 2012 after Domurad’s departure, but the tax board at the time declined to hire him.
Aniello Malerba III, the chairman of the Derby Town Democratic Committee, said at the start of the meeting that he looks forward to Herasimowicz restoring credibility to the position in Derby City Hall. Malerba did not elaborate.
