Osborn retiring as city finance director

ThisWeek CW 10/11/2012

http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/canalwinchester/news/2012/10/09/osborn-retiring-as-city-finance-director.html

After overseeing the conversion of Canal Winchester from a village to a city, finance director Nanisa Osborn has chosen to retire effective Dec. 31.

Osborn has been with the city since February 2004 and said she looks forward to remaining engaged with some of its community groups.

“I live in Circleville so I’m not far away and I think my family is pretty excited about the retirement,” Osborn said. “But I enjoy doing a lot of volunteerism, so I’m going to keep doing that, which includes some of the organizations here in town that I enjoy helping.”

According to Osborn, she anticipates being a part of the search committee to find her replacement.

“You know, No. 1, Nanisa is the best in the business,” Canal Winchester Mayor Michael Ebert said. “It’s not just her finance background but she’s got 30 years’ experience in administration in general, and we’ll miss that total package even more.

“We’ll find another good finance director, but all of those components Nanisa has, we’ll miss,” he said.

Several city council members echoed Ebert’s sentiments.

Marilyn Rush-Ekelberry joked that Osborn would not be allowed to leave.

“She’s an amazing lady and we’ve been very fortunate to have her,” Rush-Ekelberry said.

“If we ever had a question about anything, we knew we could ask her. She’s been the best thing for Canal Winchester,” Councilman John Bender said.

Councilwoman Bobbie Mershon credited the smooth transition from the previous mayor to Ebert, in part, to Osborn’s work.

The finance director position has been posted on the city website as well as on several professional government finance websites and select job board sites, according to Ebert.

“We’re advertising the position right now through select sites and we want to have somebody hired and in place by the middle of December to give Nanisa a couple of weeks to work with them and get them comfortable with how she’s been working over the years,” Ebert said. “We’re going to miss her, but I’m glad for her being able to make this decision.”