POULSBO — Monday morning found Poulsbo finance director Nanci Lien busy trying to tie up loose ends as she finalized preparations for her new position with the city of Olympia.

At the end of the month, Lien will bid farewell to Little Norway after almost two decades of working in the city’s finance department.

However, Lien’s association with Poulsbo’s government goes back almost 30 years when she handled the city’s insurance policies with the insurance company that is now Edgren, Hecker and Lemmon on Lindvig Way.

“The finance director at the time (Joyce Vossley) approached me, and I was very familiar with the city because they were one of my clients,” Lien said.

That relationship led to Lien being hired as the city’s first budget analyst in 1986 before she was named finance director in 2004.

In addition to handling insurance policies, Lien said she also did some accounting for the firm, so coming to the city’s finance department as a budget analyst wasn’t totally unfamiliar territory.

“It was a change, and I noticed right off how government is different from the private sector,” she said. “There are things you can do in the private sector that are not allowed in government.”

Also, government tends to move at a slower pace than the private sector, so communication and customer service are crucial, she said.

“I came from the business of customer service, and when I wake up, I ask myself how am I going to help people today,” Lien said.

Customer service in government often translates into allowing people to feel like they’ve been heard before explaining what can or can’t be done to resolve their situation, she said.

“We talk about customer service in staff meetings, and the most important thing is to allow people to talk,” she said.

Coming from the private sector, Lien said she tries to remember that even though government can wait, time is money for residents and businesses, so she works to expedite things as quickly as possible.

When it comes to finances, Lien said the city’s ability to obtain grants for projects has helped get things done, but it has come at a cost as well.

“Our job on the financial side is to have the reserves to match,” Lien said. Parks and Recreation director Mary McCluskey and City Engineer Andrzej Kasiniak have done an outstanding job of pulling in grant money to the city, she pointed out.

In addition to ensuring the city has enough reserves to secure grant funding, Lien said one of her goals as both the city’s budget analyst and finance director has been to provide the city council and mayor with solid financial information.

“Our goal a lot of times is to figuring out what they think they’re going to need, because a lot times the decision they make is based upon the information you provided,” she said.

When it comes the finances surrounding the city hall project, Lien offered a few words of caution for the council and Mayor Kathryn Quade as they pursue the idea of a public/private partnership.

“You need to take a look at the ramifications (risks and controls) of each and make sure all of them have been reviewed,” she said.

Even though she is leaving before the new city hall is constructed, Lien said she is proud of her work in updating the city’s financial software and the team she has helped assemble.

“I think if I’m most proud of anything it would be the financial team that will carry on and make sure we are financially stable,” Lien said. “I’m sure they will work well with the decision makers.”