Meet the Finance Committee and its Chair Jim Jenkins
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Meet the Finance Committee and its Chair Jim Jenkins.
Your Name: Jim Jenkins
Board or Commission you chair: City of Rye Finance Committee
Your role: Chair
MyRye.com: What is the charter for your Committee?
Jenkins: The Committee reviews financial policies and procedures, and makes recommendations to improve the fiscal health of The City of Rye. Working with City Staff and the liaison to the City Council, the Committee evaluates various capex proposals, and helps prepare financial proposals from City entities.
Looking at 2025, what will be your top initiatives?
Jenkins: We’re looking forward to working with the new City Manager on budgeting, the Capital Investment Plan, and following up on prior work with the Boat Basin. There are typically other requests for analysis that come from City staff or Council members.
Who is the City Council liaison to your Committee for 2025?
Jenkins: Keith Cunningham continues as our liaison to the Council.
Tell us about the residents or others you interact with at your Committee.
Jenkins: Most of our interaction is with City Staff and Council members, providing financial analysis of specific issues or projects. We meet on an ad hoc basis, and all meetings are open to the public, with prior notice given. We have occasionally had interested residents drop in, especially when they had particular interest or expertise on a matter under discussion.
When was your Committee chartered by the City of Rye?
Jenkins: The Finance Committee was created by the City Council in 1997 with 7 members appointed. Over time, the Committee has grown to as many as 11 members. Right now we’re seven, so we have room for a few volunteers.
Spanning several administrations, different mayors and Councils have requested differing amounts of input from the Committee. Currently, we have an excellent relationship with the City Manager and Controller, who do an excellent job of analyzing and presenting information.
Looking back across 2024, what were your Committee’s top achievements?
Jenkins: On an annual basis, helping to prepare the City budget is a primary task. The City Controller in particular has really deep experience preparing and laying out the budget, for which Rye has won several national awards. So our role is really to lend any assistance necessary. The effort to streamline and make the budget more user-friendly is ongoing, and the digital presentation is being continually improved.
In 2024, we followed up on previous work with the boat basin management to ensure that they are financially sustainable long-term in light of the need for occasional dredging. Also, annually, we help in preparation of the Capital Investment Plan, ensuring that the City has an appropriate and sustainable medium term plan for capital spending.
Tell us about you.
Jenkins: My wife and I moved to Rye in 1999, and raised two children here. I retired from a long career in commodity trading about ten years ago, and decided to get more involved in City affairs on a volunteer basis. I’ve worked with several mayors and City Councils, as well as numerous volunteers on the Committee. I never fail to be impressed by the energy, talent and civic-mindedness of everyone I’ve worked with. It’s easy to disagree on finances and spending priorities, but I can assure you that everyone involved takes their job seriously, and has Rye’s best interests in mind.
How long have you been in your current role?
Jenkins: I joined the Committee in 2018, when Doug French was mayor, and was appointed chair in 2020 by Josh Cohn when the previous chair, Greg Usry, stepped up to become City Manager.
Is the role full time or part time? Paid or volunteer?
Jenkins: All of the Finance Committee positions are unpaid and part time. Much of our work is ad hoc, responding to various requests from Council members or City staff. I’m lucky to work with some very talented volunteers on the Finance Committee, so as any individual’s personal or professional demands ebb and flow, we can distribute our work load. From time to time a major project can demand a tight focus, especially when City deadlines are involved. But we always seem to have several Committee members available, usually with the particular expertise we require.
Where did you grow up?
Jenkins: Born in NYC, grew up in Greenwich, CT.
Where do you live in Rye and how many years have you lived in the City?
Jenkins: 25 years on Hall’s Lane.
Thanks Jim!
Learn More:
Are meetings recorded?: No.
Are written agendas and meeting minutes available?: Yes.
Main Finance Committee page on City website
Members of Board:
James Jenkins, Chair 12-31-25 (term expires)
Janice DeNagy 12-31-27
Thomas Hamilton 12-31-27
John Hunt 12-31-25
Jono Peters 12-31-25
Jim Sandling 12-31-25
John Souza 12-31-24
