February 26, 2024 • 18 mins
Kelly Blankenship is the Finance Director for the city of Mansfield. Kelly is a graduate of Malabar High School and Coastal Carolina University. Blankenship took office in January of 2024, explains all of her duties and shares some of her vision for the future of finance department. Kelly has 3 kids and spent time working as Executive Director of Wayfinders Ohio, prior before being elected in November of 2023. Learn more about Kelly Blankenship on the podcast.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
The CEO you should know. Broughtto you by Roby Foster Miller Eric Insurance.
This week's CEO, Kelly Blankenship,City of Mansfield Finance Director, Good
morning, great to see you,Good morning, Thank you for having me.
Very happy to be here. Allright, busy lady. I know
that because the budget I just gotpast. We'll get to that in just
(00:22):
a few minutes. But if somebodyis new to Mansfield, they don't know
just recently named Finance director corrac Yestook office the first of January, so
I know you had been in therole many years prior. But how has
it gone. Settling in and allof that in the office, It's been
different. I feel like going backto the office. I'm back home.
(00:42):
So it's been a wonderful transition inthat regard. I'm very excited to be
there. I am eager to getbusy and producing. But the office had
some challenges when I arrived. Thereare some staffing needs. We're very understaffed
right now, so I've got someholes to fill there. And moving some
people around and streamlining and creating someefficiencies so that I have a good foundation
(01:07):
for the office is primarily my goalright now. All right, we're going
to get through some of that herein a moment, talk about the budget.
But if somebody's not exactly sure,what all does a finance director do?
You oversee a lot of numbers,a lot of figures, but kind
of give us an overview of whatyou do in the office. What you
oversee. Okay, The finance directorfor the city is, in comparison to
(01:30):
other public entities, the same asboth the auditor and the treasurer functions as
set by state statute for other citiesand counties that are not charter cities.
Because we're a charter city, theycombined those two roles into one elected finance
director. So I'm responsible for allmoney coming into the city and all money
(01:53):
going out of the city. I'mbasically the city's accountant as far as tracking
all of the financial transactions and thenreporting on them so that city council and
the mayor the administrative people can makegood decisions about where to take the city
based upon our financial condition and position. Great explanation on what you oversee.
Now, let's talk about the budgetrecently just got the approval. I'm sure
(02:17):
that you know a lot of numberslooking over a lot of things. Because
you're talking about it. I thinkI was told that the entire budget like
one hundred and sixty nine million dollars, So walk us through all those pages
and all that government finance is likea foreign language. It's different from accounting
functions for anybody's private business because ingovernment, most of the funding is earmarked
(02:43):
for a particular purpose and has tobe tracked accordingly. So think about if
you were a business and somebody gaveyou money specifically for one purpose, and
you needed to account for that moneyseparately from everything else that you do.
You would probably set up another bankaccount and track all of that and expenses
separately so that they don't commingle.In government, we have what's called fund
(03:05):
accounting, which allows us to trackall of those things on paper, but
still collect them in one combined account. Collecting all of those funds in one
combined account gives us the opportunity toinvest the money that isn't being used right
away, so we have the optionto have our money be making money rather
(03:25):
than sitting idle waiting for an expenseto come. Most of the moneies that
we receive are for particular purposes andcome from a variety of sources, but
largely the bulk of our income thatwe have more say over how it's used
is through income tax. So you'regeneral withholding moneies that you go to work
(03:50):
and that your employer withholds from yourcheck to pay to the city. That
is what funds most of your cityservices. So that's general fund money,
we call that, and that's thethe money that we have to allocate towards
the different needs to provide all ofthe services that the city provides. We
are a service organization, so thebulk of our expenses are largely in personnel
(04:13):
and and the people who provide thoseservices, outside of capital projects, of
course, which require larger capital outlays. All right, so great information on
kind of what all the finance directordoes, that office does. You're hearing
the voice this morning of this week'sCEO. You should know Kelly Blanken,
chip Mansfield's finance director. All right, So I'll word it this way.
(04:34):
I'm sure not every day looks thesame. I'm sure you meet with different
departments, especially leading up the budgets, but you know, how does it
work for you day to day,week to week. I'm sure you're meeting
with all kinds of people right overseeingall this. Yes, we serve we're
kind of like an internal service functionbecause we serve the needs of all the
departments as far as helping them withpurchase orders and making expenditures and making sure
(04:58):
that the things that they're asking forour legal expenditures. And within the realm
of the budget, the budget actuallyis our guide where you can set a
budget and your own personal expenses youdon't always have to follow that. The
government has to follow what is setforth in the budget. The budget is
like your law. It's your rulefor how you're going to spend your money.
(05:20):
So it's more restrictive that way incomparison to what anybody else would do
with the budget. That's why thedocument and getting it passed timely is very
important because if you need to spendmoney that you haven't budgeted for, then
it requires going back to City Counciland passing more legislation to make those budgetary
(05:42):
changes to allow you to do thethings that you need to do within the
government. So you know, rightnow, we were in that season of
formulating the budget, closing the endof the year, finding out how much
money we had left over that wecan apply to this year's budget, which
was significant and we ended up.You know, we haven't gotten to the
point yet where we can take ourestimated revenue for the year and match our
(06:05):
expenses to that. We always havemore expenses than we have estimated revenue in
one year, and so far we'vebeen fortunate that revenue has come in above
estimates in the last few years,so we have had money to carry over
and apply to the next budget.Both the Mayor and I have the goal
to eventually, hopefully soon, assoon as we can make it happen,
(06:30):
get the city on target with budgetingto revenue, and that would just be
something that has never taken place inmy day, in the previous finance director's
day that I know of, SoI think it's achievable and that's a goal
for us. Other than that,right now, we're also in income tax
season, so I would encourage everybodyto take advantage of filing your taxes online
(06:50):
using our e file system. Itmakes it easier for you, it makes
it easier for us, and reducesthe chance of any inaccurate sees happening from
somebody transcribing your numbers into our system. That way, So tax day is
April fifteenth, so we have alot of traffic up in the office right
now with people coming in. Ifyou don't know how to file your taxes,
(07:14):
you can bring your W twos inyour federal form ten forty after you
have filed your federal taxes to ourdepartment on the seventh floor of the city
building and we will file them foryou. So we are here to serve
the needs of the public and alsothe needs of people within the city and
the different departments. All right,good information this morning, good reminder by
tax season. Being here. KellyBlankenship with us today, Mansfield's finance director,
(07:39):
this week's CEO. You should knowI got a few more questions about
your office. Before we do that, let's learn a bit more about you.
People are not aware. Let's stepback to the very beginning. Tell
us where Kelly Blankenship was born.Ah Okay. I was born here in
Mansfield, born and raised here.I moved to South Carolina and lived there
for five years and finished college.I came back in nineteen ninety nine after
(08:03):
I graduated from Coastal Carolina University witha Bachelor and Business administration. My emphasis
was on accounting at that time,so I came back home and I worked
in various positions. Every job thatI have done is somehow related to the
work I do at the city.So I was a portfolio manager for a
(08:24):
while at a firm who specializes inthe bond market, and all of their
customers were public entities. And thenI left there and I came to work
for the city, and I haveworked in various departments in the city.
I've been in police records, Ihave worked in the Municipal Court. I
wrote grants for the Municipal Court anddid special projects there. I was the
small claims administrator for a while,and I worked in community development. I
(08:48):
obviously worked in the finance department whilemy mother was Finance director and Lydia Reid
was Finance Director. So I havebasically been all over the city in the
past. But ran for office intwo thousand and seven as Finance Director,
was elected and served one term there. And on the night of my reelection,
(09:09):
I gave birth to my third childand decided after that that I needed
to stay home with my children becausethree children in daycare is quite costly.
So I stayed home for a while, and then when my son went to
school, I re entered the workforce, and as you know, was hired
to be the executive director of whatwas at that time Harmony House Homeless Services
(09:31):
and served there for five and ahalf years before coming back to the finance
department. All right, now awayfinder's Ohio. And as we learn a
bit more about you, let's backit up. We miss one thing we
didn't touch on school locally? Where'dyou go to high school? Oh?
I graduated salutatorian from Malabar, thevery last class before they closed down the
high school. All right, terrific. So growing up you mentioned mom,
(09:56):
you know, financed, you know, all those kind of things. Did
you know this was going to bethe path when you were growing up?
Did you think something to do withnumbers? Those? Absolutely not No.
When I was younger, I wantedto be an orthodonist because I watched my
sister struggle in school having crooked teeth, and how kids made fun of her
and she would come home crying,And I thought to see somebody's feelings hurt
(10:16):
like that over something they had nocontrol over. I just knew that what
I wanted to do was to givekids a smile. They could be proud
of. So I was on trackto be an orthodonist, and I was
studying biology at Ohio State, andI was trying to get into the dental
school on their advanced program. Andthe first year I applied, I didn't
(10:39):
make it, and they said thatit was very competitive and please reapply next
year. So I took more classesin histology and things like that that most
people don't know about or wouldn't wantto study. And so the next year
I was put on the alternate listfor entrance. And I decided then that
I needed to stop pursuing that andhad to shift in my life. And
(11:01):
after that moved down to South Carolina, where I went to Coastal Carolina and
then ended up in business. Inever had any aspirations to have a desk
job. I always thought I wouldbe working in a lab somewhere. I
loved chemistry, I loved physics.I loved all of those things. But
I think, you know, I'mprobably one of the most well rounded students
(11:22):
that I've ever known. I lovedcollege. I mean, if I could
be a career student, I thinkI would just keep learning and learning and
learning. But it just, youknow, sometimes you make plans, and
then sometimes plans are made for you. And just the way everything kind of
came together in my life led tothis path, and so when the opportunities
were there, I took advantage ofthem. And I'm very happy with where
(11:46):
I am. I'm happy with thework that I'm doing. It's fulfilling and
satisfying, and I just love it. All right. Great to learn everybody's
path on how they get to wherethey are. You're hearing the voice this
morning. Few more minutes. We'llkeep her a super busy lady. Oh,
we're seeing a lot of things inMansfield. She's the finance director.
That is Kelly Blankenship, this week'sCEO. You should know, all right,
So you said three kids, correct, Yes, My oldest mckaylan.
(12:09):
He lives in Columbus and that wasa very difficult transition for me to make.
But he's twenty one years old.And I have a daughter, Mila,
and she is fifteen, soon tobe sixteen. So we are going
through that treacherous learning to drive phaseright now. She's a sophomore at Madison
in My youngest is Mannix and heis in sixth grade at Spanish Immersion.
(12:31):
All right, so I'm sure busykids work. If you get some Kelly
time, Do you have any hobbies. What do you do in your spare
time? Oh, my golly,spare time. I would love to have
some spare time. That would begreat. But I have a really rich
network of friends that I like tospend time with and we do a lot
of things together. Outside of that, I enjoy taking part in the events
(12:56):
that are offered around the city,things of an artsy nature, like to
you know, I like to knit, I like to do ceramics. I
like to take part in all ofthose things, even outside of the city
but within the county, all ofthose things that are available. We've always
taken our kids to family Art Nightat the Art Center when that was available.
So you know, we paint,We do those kinds of things.
(13:18):
Anything to have a creative outlet sothat you can, you know, release
anything that has been pent up.All right, great to learn this morning
about Kelly Blank and Chip again.She is Mansfield's finance director. All right,
back to work for a couple morequestions. How many people are in
the office. I know you mentionedmaybe some new roles, maybe you know,
(13:39):
bringing somebody on board that kind ofthing. Do we have a ballpark
figure? How many in the financeoffice? Well, i'll give you a
little bit of numbers for just forpicture here. And when I started in
two thousand and seven, the officehad thirty four employees. Then in twenty
eleven, you know, obviously thewhole economy crash and everybody was laying off.
(14:01):
We also had to do the same, and we lost and we cut
staffing through furloughs and through not replacingpeople who retired. So when I left,
there were twenty two employees on staffin twenty eleven. When I returned
this year, they're fourteen. Andit's still there are positions that were budgeted
and not filled, and so mygoal is to bring four more people on
(14:26):
board in the office, so we'llhave a staff of eighteen. I have
planned for twenty one to twenty twoagain, but we're going to try and
see if we can make things workwith the eighteen that we think we If
we've get the right people in place, and you know, invest in some
professional development for the ones who arealready there, then I think we can
(14:46):
you know, produce a really goodproduct with that staffing level. Ansfield Finance
Director Kelly blankenship with us in studiothis week's CEO. You should know.
I know recently you talked to Council. Believe they did pass about in investing
and things like that and being ableto really help the finances. I know
that seemed to go overwhell with council. Could you share with our listeners a
(15:07):
little bit about that. Sure,the city is very limited in the instruments
that can purchase for investments. Weare not allowed to enter the stock market.
Everything that we purchase has to besafe. We are concerned with preserving
principle and our liquidity and then alsotrying to earn the best yield we can.
(15:28):
Now that limits us to things thatare in the bond market, which
is not sexy. Those things havevery low yields, and treasury notes and
things of that nature. So it'snot like, oh hey, let's see
what's happening in the bond market today. We don't get excited about that.
But we were not taking advantage ofsome instruments that were available by state statute,
things like commercial paper, and Iwanted to bring some of those things
(15:50):
into the portfolio because they do offera higher yield. And right now we're
in a position which has been along time since the bond market has been
at the rate that it is rightnow, and so everyone's expecting the Fed
to start dropping interest rates later onthis year, and when that happens,
notes and bonds are going to decreasein their value and their interest. So
(16:15):
we want to take advantage of therates that are available to us now while
they're still available. So we hadthe policy updated to align with state code
so that it would allow us allof the freedom that the state has in
investing in those items. All right, great, now, as I let
you go. Somebody heard you saya while ago. Again you heard from
Kelly Blankenship, Mansfield's finance director.You know, it's tax season. So
(16:38):
if they have a question anything todo with finances the City of Mansfield,
how do they contact you, guys? Is it best to stop in,
Is it best to call go online? Well, whatever's best is going to
be determined by the person who hasthe need. So you have the option
of going online. Our website isci dot Mansfield dot us. You know
(17:02):
that's a little cumbersome, but thecity's website has a link right there to
the tax department, so you canfind forms and instructions online. Also e
file online there. If you havequestions, you can call four one nine
seven five five nine four one oneand that will get you to the Income
Tax Department and you can follow theprompts to either you know, get your
(17:26):
question answered or talk to a person. Or you can stop into the office
anytime between seven thirty and four atthirty North Diamond Street on the seventh floor.
Thank you, and one of theaddress if somebody's never been there before.
Exactly all right, perfect, KellyBlankenship, this week's CEO you should
Know, Mansfield's finance Director. Well, it's been great to learn your story
about all the great work. Thankyou for coming in. We wish you
(17:48):
continued success. Thank you. It'smy pleasure. Kelly Blankinship, City of
Mansfield Finance Director, the CEO youshould know rit a bio see a photo
and here the extended interview at wmA n f M dot com. Leading
means having a vision and sharing itwith others. I'm John Roby of RFMI
Insurance. We're excited to bring youthis program featuring CEOs from our area who
(18:11):
will share the thoughts and what itmeans to work and live in North central Ohio,
The CEO you should know. Broughtto you by Roby Foster Miller Eric Insurance.
This week's CEO, Kelly Blankenship,City of Mansfield Finance Director, Good
morning, great to see you,Good morning, Thank you for having me.
Very happy to be here. Allright, busy lady. I know
that because the budget I just gotpast. We'll get to that in just
(00:22):
a few minutes. But if somebodyis new to Mansfield, they don't know
just recently named Finance director corrac Yestook office the first of January, so
I know you had been in therole many years prior. But how has
it gone. Settling in and allof that in the office, It's been
different. I feel like going backto the office. I'm back home.
(00:42):
So it's been a wonderful transition inthat regard. I'm very excited to be
there. I am eager to getbusy and producing. But the office had
some challenges when I arrived. Thereare some staffing needs. We're very understaffed
right now, so I've got someholes to fill there. And moving some
people around and streamlining and creating someefficiencies so that I have a good foundation
(01:07):
for the office is primarily my goalright now. All right, we're going
to get through some of that herein a moment, talk about the budget.
But if somebody's not exactly sure,what all does a finance director do?
You oversee a lot of numbers,a lot of figures, but kind
of give us an overview of whatyou do in the office. What you
oversee. Okay, The finance directorfor the city is, in comparison to
(01:30):
other public entities, the same asboth the auditor and the treasurer functions as
set by state statute for other citiesand counties that are not charter cities.
Because we're a charter city, theycombined those two roles into one elected finance
director. So I'm responsible for allmoney coming into the city and all money
(01:53):
going out of the city. I'mbasically the city's accountant as far as tracking
all of the financial transactions and thenreporting on them so that city council and
the mayor the administrative people can makegood decisions about where to take the city
based upon our financial condition and position. Great explanation on what you oversee.
Now, let's talk about the budgetrecently just got the approval. I'm sure
(02:17):
that you know a lot of numberslooking over a lot of things. Because
you're talking about it. I thinkI was told that the entire budget like
one hundred and sixty nine million dollars, So walk us through all those pages
and all that government finance is likea foreign language. It's different from accounting
functions for anybody's private business because ingovernment, most of the funding is earmarked
(02:43):
for a particular purpose and has tobe tracked accordingly. So think about if
you were a business and somebody gaveyou money specifically for one purpose, and
you needed to account for that moneyseparately from everything else that you do.
You would probably set up another bankaccount and track all of that and expenses
separately so that they don't commingle.In government, we have what's called fund
(03:05):
accounting, which allows us to trackall of those things on paper, but
still collect them in one combined account. Collecting all of those funds in one
combined account gives us the opportunity toinvest the money that isn't being used right
away, so we have the optionto have our money be making money rather
(03:25):
than sitting idle waiting for an expenseto come. Most of the moneies that
we receive are for particular purposes andcome from a variety of sources, but
largely the bulk of our income thatwe have more say over how it's used
is through income tax. So you'regeneral withholding moneies that you go to work
(03:50):
and that your employer withholds from yourcheck to pay to the city. That
is what funds most of your cityservices. So that's general fund money,
we call that, and that's thethe money that we have to allocate towards
the different needs to provide all ofthe services that the city provides. We
are a service organization, so thebulk of our expenses are largely in personnel
(04:13):
and and the people who provide thoseservices, outside of capital projects, of
course, which require larger capital outlays. All right, so great information on
kind of what all the finance directordoes, that office does. You're hearing
the voice this morning of this week'sCEO. You should know Kelly Blanken,
chip Mansfield's finance director. All right, So I'll word it this way.
(04:34):
I'm sure not every day looks thesame. I'm sure you meet with different
departments, especially leading up the budgets, but you know, how does it
work for you day to day,week to week. I'm sure you're meeting
with all kinds of people right overseeingall this. Yes, we serve we're
kind of like an internal service functionbecause we serve the needs of all the
departments as far as helping them withpurchase orders and making expenditures and making sure
(04:58):
that the things that they're asking forour legal expenditures. And within the realm
of the budget, the budget actuallyis our guide where you can set a
budget and your own personal expenses youdon't always have to follow that. The
government has to follow what is setforth in the budget. The budget is
like your law. It's your rulefor how you're going to spend your money.
(05:20):
So it's more restrictive that way incomparison to what anybody else would do
with the budget. That's why thedocument and getting it passed timely is very
important because if you need to spendmoney that you haven't budgeted for, then
it requires going back to City Counciland passing more legislation to make those budgetary
(05:42):
changes to allow you to do thethings that you need to do within the
government. So you know, rightnow, we were in that season of
formulating the budget, closing the endof the year, finding out how much
money we had left over that wecan apply to this year's budget, which
was significant and we ended up.You know, we haven't gotten to the
point yet where we can take ourestimated revenue for the year and match our
(06:05):
expenses to that. We always havemore expenses than we have estimated revenue in
one year, and so far we'vebeen fortunate that revenue has come in above
estimates in the last few years,so we have had money to carry over
and apply to the next budget.Both the Mayor and I have the goal
to eventually, hopefully soon, assoon as we can make it happen,
(06:30):
get the city on target with budgetingto revenue, and that would just be
something that has never taken place inmy day, in the previous finance director's
day that I know of, SoI think it's achievable and that's a goal
for us. Other than that,right now, we're also in income tax
season, so I would encourage everybodyto take advantage of filing your taxes online
(06:50):
using our e file system. Itmakes it easier for you, it makes
it easier for us, and reducesthe chance of any inaccurate sees happening from
somebody transcribing your numbers into our system. That way, So tax day is
April fifteenth, so we have alot of traffic up in the office right
now with people coming in. Ifyou don't know how to file your taxes,
(07:14):
you can bring your W twos inyour federal form ten forty after you
have filed your federal taxes to ourdepartment on the seventh floor of the city
building and we will file them foryou. So we are here to serve
the needs of the public and alsothe needs of people within the city and
the different departments. All right,good information this morning, good reminder by
tax season. Being here. KellyBlankenship with us today, Mansfield's finance director,
(07:39):
this week's CEO. You should knowI got a few more questions about
your office. Before we do that, let's learn a bit more about you.
People are not aware. Let's stepback to the very beginning. Tell
us where Kelly Blankenship was born.Ah Okay. I was born here in
Mansfield, born and raised here.I moved to South Carolina and lived there
for five years and finished college.I came back in nineteen ninety nine after
(08:03):
I graduated from Coastal Carolina University witha Bachelor and Business administration. My emphasis
was on accounting at that time,so I came back home and I worked
in various positions. Every job thatI have done is somehow related to the
work I do at the city.So I was a portfolio manager for a
(08:24):
while at a firm who specializes inthe bond market, and all of their
customers were public entities. And thenI left there and I came to work
for the city, and I haveworked in various departments in the city.
I've been in police records, Ihave worked in the Municipal Court. I
wrote grants for the Municipal Court anddid special projects there. I was the
small claims administrator for a while,and I worked in community development. I
(08:48):
obviously worked in the finance department whilemy mother was Finance director and Lydia Reid
was Finance Director. So I havebasically been all over the city in the
past. But ran for office intwo thousand and seven as Finance Director,
was elected and served one term there. And on the night of my reelection,
(09:09):
I gave birth to my third childand decided after that that I needed
to stay home with my children becausethree children in daycare is quite costly.
So I stayed home for a while, and then when my son went to
school, I re entered the workforce, and as you know, was hired
to be the executive director of whatwas at that time Harmony House Homeless Services
(09:31):
and served there for five and ahalf years before coming back to the finance
department. All right, now awayfinder's Ohio. And as we learn a
bit more about you, let's backit up. We miss one thing we
didn't touch on school locally? Where'dyou go to high school? Oh?
I graduated salutatorian from Malabar, thevery last class before they closed down the
high school. All right, terrific. So growing up you mentioned mom,
(09:56):
you know, financed, you know, all those kind of things. Did
you know this was going to bethe path when you were growing up?
Did you think something to do withnumbers? Those? Absolutely not No.
When I was younger, I wantedto be an orthodonist because I watched my
sister struggle in school having crooked teeth, and how kids made fun of her
and she would come home crying,And I thought to see somebody's feelings hurt
(10:16):
like that over something they had nocontrol over. I just knew that what
I wanted to do was to givekids a smile. They could be proud
of. So I was on trackto be an orthodonist, and I was
studying biology at Ohio State, andI was trying to get into the dental
school on their advanced program. Andthe first year I applied, I didn't
(10:39):
make it, and they said thatit was very competitive and please reapply next
year. So I took more classesin histology and things like that that most
people don't know about or wouldn't wantto study. And so the next year
I was put on the alternate listfor entrance. And I decided then that
I needed to stop pursuing that andhad to shift in my life. And
(11:01):
after that moved down to South Carolina, where I went to Coastal Carolina and
then ended up in business. Inever had any aspirations to have a desk
job. I always thought I wouldbe working in a lab somewhere. I
loved chemistry, I loved physics.I loved all of those things. But
I think, you know, I'mprobably one of the most well rounded students
(11:22):
that I've ever known. I lovedcollege. I mean, if I could
be a career student, I thinkI would just keep learning and learning and
learning. But it just, youknow, sometimes you make plans, and
then sometimes plans are made for you. And just the way everything kind of
came together in my life led tothis path, and so when the opportunities
were there, I took advantage ofthem. And I'm very happy with where
(11:46):
I am. I'm happy with thework that I'm doing. It's fulfilling and
satisfying, and I just love it. All right. Great to learn everybody's
path on how they get to wherethey are. You're hearing the voice this
morning. Few more minutes. We'llkeep her a super busy lady. Oh,
we're seeing a lot of things inMansfield. She's the finance director.
That is Kelly Blankenship, this week'sCEO. You should know, all right,
So you said three kids, correct, Yes, My oldest mckaylan.
(12:09):
He lives in Columbus and that wasa very difficult transition for me to make.
But he's twenty one years old.And I have a daughter, Mila,
and she is fifteen, soon tobe sixteen. So we are going
through that treacherous learning to drive phaseright now. She's a sophomore at Madison
in My youngest is Mannix and heis in sixth grade at Spanish Immersion.
(12:31):
All right, so I'm sure busykids work. If you get some Kelly
time, Do you have any hobbies. What do you do in your spare
time? Oh, my golly,spare time. I would love to have
some spare time. That would begreat. But I have a really rich
network of friends that I like tospend time with and we do a lot
of things together. Outside of that, I enjoy taking part in the events
(12:56):
that are offered around the city,things of an artsy nature, like to
you know, I like to knit, I like to do ceramics. I
like to take part in all ofthose things, even outside of the city
but within the county, all ofthose things that are available. We've always
taken our kids to family Art Nightat the Art Center when that was available.
So you know, we paint,We do those kinds of things.
(13:18):
Anything to have a creative outlet sothat you can, you know, release
anything that has been pent up.All right, great to learn this morning
about Kelly Blank and Chip again.She is Mansfield's finance director. All right,
back to work for a couple morequestions. How many people are in
the office. I know you mentionedmaybe some new roles, maybe you know,
(13:39):
bringing somebody on board that kind ofthing. Do we have a ballpark
figure? How many in the financeoffice? Well, i'll give you a
little bit of numbers for just forpicture here. And when I started in
two thousand and seven, the officehad thirty four employees. Then in twenty
eleven, you know, obviously thewhole economy crash and everybody was laying off.
(14:01):
We also had to do the same, and we lost and we cut
staffing through furloughs and through not replacingpeople who retired. So when I left,
there were twenty two employees on staffin twenty eleven. When I returned
this year, they're fourteen. Andit's still there are positions that were budgeted
and not filled, and so mygoal is to bring four more people on
(14:26):
board in the office, so we'llhave a staff of eighteen. I have
planned for twenty one to twenty twoagain, but we're going to try and
see if we can make things workwith the eighteen that we think we If
we've get the right people in place, and you know, invest in some
professional development for the ones who arealready there, then I think we can
(14:46):
you know, produce a really goodproduct with that staffing level. Ansfield Finance
Director Kelly blankenship with us in studiothis week's CEO. You should know.
I know recently you talked to Council. Believe they did pass about in investing
and things like that and being ableto really help the finances. I know
that seemed to go overwhell with council. Could you share with our listeners a
(15:07):
little bit about that. Sure,the city is very limited in the instruments
that can purchase for investments. Weare not allowed to enter the stock market.
Everything that we purchase has to besafe. We are concerned with preserving
principle and our liquidity and then alsotrying to earn the best yield we can.
(15:28):
Now that limits us to things thatare in the bond market, which
is not sexy. Those things havevery low yields, and treasury notes and
things of that nature. So it'snot like, oh hey, let's see
what's happening in the bond market today. We don't get excited about that.
But we were not taking advantage ofsome instruments that were available by state statute,
things like commercial paper, and Iwanted to bring some of those things
(15:50):
into the portfolio because they do offera higher yield. And right now we're
in a position which has been along time since the bond market has been
at the rate that it is rightnow, and so everyone's expecting the Fed
to start dropping interest rates later onthis year, and when that happens,
notes and bonds are going to decreasein their value and their interest. So
(16:15):
we want to take advantage of therates that are available to us now while
they're still available. So we hadthe policy updated to align with state code
so that it would allow us allof the freedom that the state has in
investing in those items. All right, great, now, as I let
you go. Somebody heard you saya while ago. Again you heard from
Kelly Blankenship, Mansfield's finance director.You know, it's tax season. So
(16:38):
if they have a question anything todo with finances the City of Mansfield,
how do they contact you, guys? Is it best to stop in,
Is it best to call go online? Well, whatever's best is going to
be determined by the person who hasthe need. So you have the option
of going online. Our website isci dot Mansfield dot us. You know
(17:02):
that's a little cumbersome, but thecity's website has a link right there to
the tax department, so you canfind forms and instructions online. Also e
file online there. If you havequestions, you can call four one nine
seven five five nine four one oneand that will get you to the Income
Tax Department and you can follow theprompts to either you know, get your
(17:26):
question answered or talk to a person. Or you can stop into the office
anytime between seven thirty and four atthirty North Diamond Street on the seventh floor.
Thank you, and one of theaddress if somebody's never been there before.
Exactly all right, perfect, KellyBlankenship, this week's CEO you should
Know, Mansfield's finance Director. Well, it's been great to learn your story
about all the great work. Thankyou for coming in. We wish you
(17:48):
continued success. Thank you. It'smy pleasure. Kelly Blankinship, City of
Mansfield Finance Director, the CEO youshould know rit a bio see a photo
and here the extended interview at wmA n f M dot com. Leading
means having a vision and sharing itwith others. I'm John Roby of RFMI
Insurance. We're excited to bring youthis program featuring CEOs from our area who
(18:11):
will share the thoughts and what itmeans to work and live in North central Ohio,
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