A familiar face in the city’s finance department will be filling the shoes of a man with nearly three decades of service to the city of Belleville.

The city announced Thursday that long time city treasurer Brian Cousins will be retiring from the position. He will be replaced by current deputy treasure Carol Hinze.

Cousins has been an employee of the city for 29 years and has held the role of City Treasurer since 1996.

Hinze is an 18-year employee of the City’s Finance Department. She holds a CPA-CGA Designation and has been the Manager of Finance/Deputy Treasurer since 2004. Previously she held the positions of Acting Director, Customer Service & Finance and Manager of Finance & Special Projects.

Hinze will begin her new position with the City of Belleville effective July 2.   

City CAO Rick Kester said Cousins financial insight and extensive budget experience have been extremely valuable.

“We appreciate his many years of hard work and service to our community,” Kester stated. “On behalf of our Executive Management Team and myself especially, we want to wish Brian a very happy and healthy retirement.

“We are pleased to announce that Carol has accepted this appointment. She has an impressive resume of work in the finance field and we are excited about the financial and corporate leadership skills she will bring to our Executive Management Team.”