The Noblesville Common Council recognized Jeffrey Spalding, chief financial officer and controller, as the 2019 Stake in the Ground honoree at their meeting Tuesday night.
The “Stake in the Ground” Award is designed to recognize city employees – typically at the director level – who go above and beyond their job by “putting a stake in the ground” to be the best city employee and have a significant impact in serving constituents. Each councilor makes a nomination and then all members vote on the award.
“Jeff has taken the city finances to a new level, doing all he can to make city finances transparent to the taxpayer,” said 2019 Common Council President Brian Ayer, who presented the award on behalf of the council. “Our budget process has greatly improved over the past two years largely due to Jeff’s guidance. He has been instrumental in making significant changes to the city’s budget process, which has increased the quality of the end product. Jeff also is addressing issues involving cash management and debt mapping – which will be necessary for future project planning.”
Spalding began working as the city controller in February 2017. The Office of Finance and Accounting manages the city’s finances and oversees the budget process. A guiding theme Spalding brought to OFA is to “right size and realign” the overall structure of Civil City budget to best use taxpayer dollars wisely and allocate finances logically and clearly.
“I was very surprised and it is much appreciated,” Spalding said upon winning the award. “I enjoy the work I do here and it is nice to be acknowledged and recognized when you are working to do the right thing.”
Prior to Noblesville, Spalding was the controller for the City of Elkhart, Ind. Spalding has also served under Mayor Greg Ballard as the office of finance and management director for the City of Indianapolis/Marion County. For 13 years, he served as the senior fiscal analyst for the Indiana House of Representatives Republican Caucus. Spalding graduated from Hanover College and earned his MBA in finance from Washington University in St. Louis.