The Woodlands Township now has two consultants on board to handle its financial affairs and to recommend a structure for the top management position.

The Woodlands Township Executive Committee approved the hiring of a consultant, Right Management, to recommend a new top management structure for the township. That consultant will be paid $48,500, plus out of pocket expenses, for a report to be delivered by July 16.

The township also expanded its contract with Jefferson Wells, an outside financial service firm, to have two employees in the district to handle day-to-day operations issues of transition, including merging the township and the Community Associations of the Woodlands, finalizing agreements with Houston and Conroe to avoid annexation, and taking over maintenance of The Woodlands Waterway.

For the increased fee, the township will get an additional financial consultant, Dan Baumel, for up to 40 hours a week. It also will fund Brian Pate, former vice president of finance and administration who now works for Jefferson Wells, for 45 hours instead of 40 hours a week. The contract should be in place no longer than 90 days and each man will bill at $138 an hour, Pate said.

The township is dealing with the loss of president Frank Robinson, who resigned on June 16 to take a job as city manager in Apple Valley, Calif. The executive committee appointed Pate as well as Nick Wolda, vice president of marketing and public affairs, and Steve Sumner, vice president of operations and public safety, to co-manage the district until a decision is made about the president's position.

The expansion of the Jefferson Wells contract was approved unanimously by the township board.

The executive committee voted on June 13 to hire an organizational structure consultant to determine the current and future role for the president's position. By 2010, the township will merge with the Community Associations of The Woodlands to provide municipal-type service in the community and fund them with property taxes instead of homeowner assessments.

"As we understand it, your immediate priority is the design of a new top level organization structure for the management of The Woodlands Township," wrote Tony Rogers of Right Management in a memo to the board. "In short, the two entities are currently managed by separate senior executives and resolution is needed to determine if that model is optimal going forward, if the combined organizations could be effectively managed by a single senior executive or if a hybrid structure is required."

The study, headed by Rogers and Tom Akins, will provide design options for the top leadership structure and a profile of responsibilities for a new township president by the next board meeting on July 16. These will be based on interviews of the senior managers for both organizations.

In April, The Woodlands Township hired Jefferson Wells for up to $115,000 to assist with the day-to-day operations of the finance department and to develop a job description and assist with hiring of a vice president of finance and administration. In addition, the district hired an accountant for $34,000. Pate, who just resigned from the township, was given the contract, which is $62,500 more than his township salary.

The township is facing many new financial issues this year. In April, the township began collecting an 8.25 percent sales tax community wide, of which 6.25 percent goes to the state and two cents is split between the township and an economic development zone to provide services in The Woodlands.

The township has committed $6.1 million to the Community Association of The Woodlands to partial fund operations of The Woodlands Fire Department in 2008. By 2009, the township is expected to pick up 100 percent of fire department operating costs.

Also in 2008, the township has agreed to fund $16 million in mutually beneficial projects, such as transportation and regional parks, with the city of Houston to avoid annexation. It also committed $320,000 to Conroe for fire services to avoid annexation of Harper's Landing.

The district also is taking over the maintenance and operations of The Woodlands Waterway from The Woodlands Development Co.