Mayor Victor Cumming presenting Debra Law, Vernon's director of financial services, with the Government Finance Officers Association's Canadian Award for Financial Reporting in March (photo by Liam Verster / Vernon Matters)

By Liam Verster

City Hall

Vernon’s finance manager wraps up career with city

Jun 14, 2024 | 5:00 AM

The City of Vernon’s chief financial officer is retiring.

Debra Law’s last day with the city is Friday, June 14, wrapping up nearly a decade and a half of work for the municipality.

“I’ve expressed this before, but I have really enjoyed my tenure here at the City of Vernon,” Law told City Council at the end of the regular meeting Monday, June 10.

“It’s the longest place I’ve ever worked. Previously for only six or seven years [at past jobs], but I’ve been here for 14, so I think that’s pretty amazing.

“This is an amazing community and I plan to live here and enjoy the new ALC (Active Living Centre) that’s coming and be out and about in the community, I’m sure I’ll see you either at Blenz or Starbucks or some other event that’s going on.”

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Speaking with Vernon Matters following Monday’s meeting, Mayor Victor Cumming said Law, who has been CFO for the past seven years, has done a lot of important work for the city.

“[During here tenure] we’ve always had an award for our finances, and [we’ve been] recognized nationally for our annual reports. The numbers have been absolutely tight. She’s done an excellent job of tracking our expenditures and reporting them,” Cumming said.

“Really good CFOs make the rest of us look really good, because they make sure that before we approve anything, we actually have the money to do exactly what we said, and then they track to make sure we use that money for exactly what we said before, and if there’s an overage, then we come and get approval before we pay the overage. These are the kind of things that can get out of hand when you have $100-million budget, so that has to be very tight and very detailed and Deb did a wonderful job with that.”

Law’s role is being filled by Elma Hamming, who was introduced to Vernon council in March. Hamming has 20 years experience working with municipal governments, including five years as the CFO for the City of Rossland, and Cumming is confident she will be able to pick up where Law is leaving off.

“Big shoes to fill, and she comes with the qualifications and the capability to do it,” Cumming told Vernon Matters.

“We’re really pleased to have her. We’ve filled a person very strong and capable in their position with someone who is also very strong and very capable, so we don’t expect any change in the quality of our finance systems.”

Law received a round of applause from council and staff at her last official regular meeting Monday.