Gardiner will restart its search for a top administrator in the new year after city officials failed to reach an agreement with the only finalist for the position, Mayor Pat Hart confirmed Tuesday.

Chris McLaughlin, who has served as Topsham’s fire chief since 2018, held a meet-and-greet with Gardiner residents at the City Council’s Dec. 3 meeting as the only remaining applicant from a pool of 34 people.

Hart did not respond to a request for further comment, and it was not immediately clear why the city could not reach an agreement with McLaughlin. McLaughlin, 41, who lives in West Gardiner, also did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

Gardiner has been without a permanent manager for more than six months. Former City Manager Robert Peabody announced his resignation June 4 after just four months on the job.

Finance Director Denise Brown, who assumed the interim manager position during the five-month search for Peabody and after his resignation, will continue in that role while the city restarts its search.

Notably, city officials chose to forgo hiring a consultant for this search process, leaving Brown to collect resumes. Eaton Peabody, the firm Gardiner and many other municipalities in Maine paid to conduct manager searches in recent years, closed just as Gardiner’s search began in June.

The City Council meets at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Gardiner City Hall, 6 Church St.