CITY OF FREEMAN HIRES EDELMAN AS FINANCE OFFICER

A familiar name is returning to the city of Freeman’s finance office.

Meeting in regular session Tuesday night, May 3, the Freeman City Council unanimously approved the hiring of Lisa Edelman as city finance officer. Edelman served the city of Freeman for seven years before resigning in 2016 to take the finance officer position in her hometown of Menno, where she has been since.

Monday’s action followed the appointment of Edelman by Mayor Michael Walter and an executive session to discuss an annual salary package of around $90,000. That includes benefits from her previous employment with the city of Freeman, including paid vacation time and sick leave.

The vote to hire Edelman was 5-0; council president Blaine Saarie was not present.

Edelman will begin May 9.

Her hiring brings stability to a position that has been in flux since the resignation of Adam Van Ningen in March of 2021. The city of Freeman then went four months without a full-time finance officer before hiring Doug Uecker, who was on the job for less than seven months.

Uecker resigned in February and the city has been operating without a full-time finance officer since, relying on other city office personnel and the assistance of Crooks City Finance Officer Tobias Schandz in the interim.