LEBANON — The City Council has identified an interim city manager and started the search for a new permanent hire with the help of an outside company.

The council voted at a Wednesday night meeting to set the salary limit for a new city manager at $180,000 based on feedback from Municipal Resources Inc., an outside firm managing the search process.

“I’d be willing to use $180,000 as a starting point and see what we get for applicants, assuming we get any applicants,” Mayor Tim McNamara said at the meeting.

Outgoing City Manager Shaun Mulholland was hired earlier this month to serve as town manager in Londonderry, N.H., and will depart City Hall May 30. Mulholland’s salary for 2025 in Lebanon is $164,000.

At a special meeting last week, councilors met with Jack Wozmak, who will begin work as the interim city manager April 1.

Wozmak, who works for MRI, will focus on helping Lebanon through the annual budget process later this year and transitioning the permanent manager into the role when one is selected

“The goal here is the city keeps moving forward and we don’t stop, we don’t have a pause,” Mulholland said at the March 13 meeting.

Mulholland said it is “critical” that Wozmak is involved in the city’s entire budget process because the city is making some changes. Mulholland is drafting a new budget policy at the request of the City Council after an especially contentious budget season.

A permanent manager will “hopefully” start by the fall, Mulholland said.

Wozmak is a senior management consultant at MRI and has been the interim manager or administrator for several New Hampshire towns.

He is currently the interim town manager in Meredith, N.H., and previously served in interim roles in Canaan and Enfield.

Wozmak will work in Lebanon part time about two to three days per week, though he described his schedule as “flexible.”

The city will pay MRI $18,000 to manage the recruitment process, and has budgeted a total of $75,000 for the interim manager, Mulholland said.

During the March 13 meeting, MRI staff reported what other city managers earn in New Hampshire, and that drove this week’s discussion about the salary limit.

On Wednesday, councilors said they considered the advice from MRI and factored in the position’s residency requirement to come up with what they thought were reasonable salary options.

The residency requirement “presents a real constraint on prospective candidates” because the council had to select a salary to cover the cost of buying or renting a home in Lebanon’s “very tight” housing market, Councilor Karen Liot Hill said.

Liot Hill and other councilors discussed removing the residency requirement, which is included in the city charter, but said it could not be done in time for the current search.

The decision to set the salary cap at $180,000 was unanimous.

The next steps for MRI will be finishing the job posting that will go up for 30 days before staff from the firm start interviewi ng candidates.

Clare Shanahan can be reached at cshanahan@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.