GARDINER — Two candidates for Gardiner’s open city manager position will be interviewed in the next two weeks, and city residents are invited to meet them during two public sessions.
Gardiner Mayor Thom Harnett said one candidate is scheduled to be in the city Monday; and the second, a week later. Each of the candidates will have identical schedules, Harnett said.
They will first meet with city department heads in the afternoon, then with the City Council in a half-hour executive session that begins at 6 p.m.
From 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., the candidates will take part in an informal public reception, during which each will give a brief presentation and take questions from Gardiner residents.
Harnett said the receptions are scheduled for the Hazzard Room in the Gardiner Public Library.
The candidates’ names have not been released yet, Harnett said; that will happen when they arrive.
One candidate is a woman who is a current town or city manager in Maine.
The other candidate is a man who is a department head in municipal government of a larger community in New Hampshire, who also has experience in Maine.
The search for a permanent city manager started in 2017, when then-City Manager Scott Morelli accepted the position of city manager in South Portland.
Since his departure in March, Anne Davis, director of the Gardiner Public Library, has been serving as interim city manager.
The candidates who are coming to Gardiner were identified in a second search candidates for the position.
After finding no acceptable candidates last summer, the City Council opted to suspend the search temporarily.
In putting together the proposed Gardiner budget, which city elected officials are in the process of reviewing, Davis said, she added money to the salary line for that position. The salary is listed at $96,400 for the upcoming budget year, which begins July 1.
“Everything in the budget is proposed at this point,” Harnett said.
When the job was posted, it included a salary range for the position, he said.
“We’ll negotiate once we choose a candidate,” Harnett said.
Jessica Lowell — 621-5632
Twitter: @JLowellKJ
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