Ken Crutcher, who worked as city finance director under former Mayor Tim Davlin, has been hired as finance director for City Water, Light and Power.
“Ken specializes in finance, legal and administration,” Mayor Jim Langfelder wrote in Friday email to aldermen announcing that Crutcher had been hired. “We are bringing Mr. Crutcher on to integrate CWLP finance department throughout CWLP departments by doing (a) cost benefit analysis on projects and preparing short and long term financial planning across departmental lines.”
Crutcher will be paid $120,000 a year, which is $17,000 less than his predecessor Craig Burns earned. According to a written job description posted by the city in May, the minimum monthly salary is $9,900. By contrast, city budget director William McCarty’s salary in 2015 was $114,889, which works out to $4,000 less.
In his email, Langfelder told aldermen that Crutcher was hired after an interview process conducted under civil service rules. Jim Kuizin, city human resources director, wrote in an email to Illinois Times that the position does not require confirmation by the city council. Amber Sabin, CWLP spokeswoman, said that Crutcher will start work next month.
Neither Crutcher nor Langfelder could immediately be reached for comment.
In addition to working as city finance director Davlin, Crutcher was once city comptroller and also served as director of the Springfield Housing Authority during the 1990s. After leaving city employment at the end of the Davlin administration, Crutcher went to work for the state of Illinois, moving from a position as procurement officer for the Executive Ethics Commission to a position as chief of staff at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in 2013. Crutcher left state employment in 2015, after Gov. Bruce Rauner took office.
Contact Bruce Rushton at brushton@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Aug 25-31, 2016.
