GARDINER — City officials are expected to discuss the search for a city manager when they meet for the next City Council meeting on April 21.

Mayor Patricia Hart said that discussion may include how the search will go forward and whether the council will issue requests for qualifications for search firms to help it find the next administrative chief for the city.

“We’ll know more about that after that meeting,” Hart said Monday.

In the meantime, Anne Davis, who has filled in as interim city manager twice before, will work as acting city manager.

Davis is currently the director of the Gardiner Public Library and the information technology director for the city, but she’s retiring from her library position on July 1.

“I had made the announcement a couple of times previously that I was going to be retiring, and then COVID hit and I didn’t feel I could abandon the ship at that point,” she said. “I am kind of feeling the same way right now, even though I can make sure the library will have a good new director, I just can’t walk away from the people at City Hall, or the whole organization, really.”

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Davis earned a round of applause for her service during the West Gardiner Town Meeting on Saturday after she announced her pending retirement. West Gardiner is one of the library’s partner communities that helps fund library operations through its town budget.

On Monday, Davis said she’s willing to continue as acting city manager after July 1, and she will also continue in her IT role, within reason.

In March, the Gardiner City Council accepted the resignation of Christine Landes, who had served as city manager since August 2018. Her three-year contract would have ended June 30.

Gardiner joins other communities in the region who are looking for municipal managers. Both Hallowell and Richmond have vacancies they are working to fill, and on Monday, Augusta City Manager William Bridgeo announced his retirement effective in September.

Landes was hired to fill the vacancy created when Scott Morelli, who had been city manager for seven years, accepted the city manager’s position in South Portland in February 2017.

After Morelli’s departure, Davis was appointed to serve as interim city manager, a role that lasted for 17 months. She had also been named interim city manager before Morelli was hired.

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