ST. LOUIS — Comptroller Darlene Green’s office announced Monday she had promoted two staffers to fill key positions but declined to say whether top deputy Beverly Fitzsimmons remained on staff.
Green tapped Jason Fletcher, a certified public accountant and the office’s fiscal operations support manager, as her interim deputy comptroller. Fletcher has worked for the office since 2018 and previously oversaw the internal audit section.
Nancy Fesarillo-Wiegand, a comptroller’s office employee since 2015 and also a fiscal operations support manager, is now the office’s first assistant comptroller. Green also hired a new public information officer, Tiara Thomas, to fill a position that has been vacant since the summer of 2022. Thomas previously worked in the Nashville, Tennessee, mayor’s office.
The promotions come as the comptroller’s office, which manages all city financial operations, continues to integrate a new accounting system across City Hall operations, a task that has come with hiccups including payment delays for city vendors and payroll issues for city employees. Green has blamed the software, Oracle, and the consultant that implemented it, Accenture, for a “horrific†system.
People are also reading…
But current and former comptroller staff say the office was ill-prepared to guide city departments through the switch.
Fitzsimmons, a key leader in the office who some saw as essential to the financial functioning of the city, had planned to retire at the end of 2023 following a 43-year career in City Hall, where she worked as deputy comptroller since 2015. A second deputy comptroller position, which oversaw public finance and other functions, has been vacant since the summer when Green demoted LaTaunia Kenner, who then retired from the city.
Green’s spokesman, Thomas, would not confirm whether Fitzsimmons had retired or moved to a part-time role, as some City Hall employees suggested she might. Thomas referred questions about Fitzsimmons’ status to the city’s Personnel Department.
Green has held the elected office for nearly 30 years and holds one of three votes on the city’s powerful Board of Estimate and Apportionment that controls city spending.