GREENFIELD — After more than 12 city employees departed from their positions this year, Precinct 9 City Councilor Derek Helie questioned Mayor Ginny Desorgher at Wednesday evening’s City Council meeting, inquiring about Greenfield’s financial health amid the turnover.

Former City Treasurer Kelly Varner, former City Accountant Angelica Desroches and former Finance Director Diana Parsons have all resigned from their positions in Greenfield’s Finance Department since April.

Desorgher’s former Chief of Staff Keith Barnicle resigned in August, the mayor’s Executive Assistant Janine Greaves is expected to resign next week, and Communications Director Matthew Conway will depart from his position in November.

Addressing Desorgher on Wednesday, Helie asked whether the city has been able to manage its finances effectively, given the loss of its more experienced staff.

“This is a very, very challenging time in the city,” Desorgher responded. “We have lost a lot of people with a huge amount of institutional knowledge. I know from running an emergency room, you don’t become a crackerjack nurse until you’ve been there for a while. While it’s absolutely true that we lost a lot there, every municipality faces many of the same challenges. You can’t find people who have municipal experience. It is almost impossible.”

Desorgher added that despite the city’s loss of some institutional knowledge, its new staff members — Interim Accountant Katherine Cabrera-Veloz and Finance Director Stella Chan — have been working late nights, holidays and weekends to ensure the city’s finances are handled smoothly.

Last week, Precinct 5 Councilor Marianne Bullock received an email containing a letter addressed to City Council from Varner in which she expressed concern with spending under the Desorgher administration, noting that the mayor spent “without plans of how to fund unbudgeted expenditures,” and gave raises and stipends to employees “regardless of the merit.”

Bullock referenced the letter as she questioned Desorgher and her Chief of Staff Erin Anhalt about the city’s financial stability, asking whether the Mayor’s Office planned to continue a wage study that was in progress under former Mayor Roxann Wedegartner.

“With this turnover and with new hiring and the raises that have been given out this year, is that [going to] cause us to have a budget shortfall when we get into budgeting?” Bullock asked. “And then, of course, are we making sure that there’s equitable pay grades, pay stubs for people?”

Anhalt said Barnicle, her predecessor, reached out to representatives at the University of Massachusetts Boston’s Edward J. Collins Jr. Center for Public Management in April about continuing a wage study for the city. However, as prices at the Collins Center have gone up, Anhalt said she has spoken to the state Department of Labor Standards about extending the grant’s timeframe, as the study is grant-funded. In response to questions about a budget shortfall, Anhalt continued that the wage study would address racial, sexuality-based and gender-based equity.

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429.