City selects new finance director

The City and Borough of Juneau announced Wednesday that current treasurer Angie Flick will replace Jeff Rogers as the city’s next finance director. Flick is scheduled to begin her new position Monday and will learn the ropes alongside Rogers until his departure at the end of June.

Flick has worked as the city’s treasurer since February of last year, having moved back to Juneau a few decades after graduating from Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé.

While she was away Flick spent time earning a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Arizona, along with earning her doctorate in Public Administration and Policy from Arizona State University.

Flick also spent time working multiple administrative and budgetary roles for Maricopa County in Phoenix, Arizona — the fourth largest county in the nation.

Flick told the Empire on Wednesday that she’s excited to take on her new role and to be back in Juneau.

“It’s been a few years,” she said, laughing. “But I’ve always had a love of Juneau, had good memories, and it’s such a good community — in the back of my mind I knew I would get back here one day and I’m excited to be selected.”

Flick said her time spent as treasurer will be an asset in her understanding of her new role and described some of her strengths as being level-headed, communication focused and task oriented.

City Manager Rorie Watt said he’s also excited to see Flick take on her new role after she awed him and other city officials during her time as treasurer. Watt said she was one of seven qualified applicants who sought the job during the open application period.

“She has just generally impressed us with all sorts of things over the last year,” he told the Empire. “We knew she was a strong candidate and I think she’s going to be really good as a department manager. As treasurer she is already seeing critical parts of the city and has a decent understanding of the department.”

Watt said he’s happy the city was able to hire someone who is already a part of the Juneau community, and knows a bit about the city’s nuts and bolts going into the job.

Though Flick is set to begin her new post shortly, she will still have a few months of overlap with Rogers who in late February announced that he would be relocating and departing from his position with the city.

Watt said having that period of overlapping time is crucial, especially during the budget process which is currently ongoing.

“It’s important that we set ourselves for when we have transition so it’s not like we are losing institutional knowledge over and over again,” he said. “That overlap with Jeff will maintain some continuity with the department.”

Rogers agreed and said since hiring Flick last year he has constantly been impressed with her “wealth of experience and knowledge,” along with her natural leadership skills.

“I am thrilled that it’s Angie — I think she’s absolutely the right choice,” he said. “I think that one of the best things she brings is that she balances that academic understanding she has with a super practical approach, and she knows what it is to run a department.”

The city will be recruiting a new treasurer to replace Flick in the coming weeks.

Flick will earn an annual salary of $138,153.

• Contact reporter Clarise Larson at [email protected] or (651)-528-1807. Follow her on Twitter at @clariselarson.