Lebanon
Shaun Mulholland, 49, will begin work at City Hall on Jan. 22, according to a news release announcing his hiring. He is the current town administrator of Allenstown, N.H., a community of about 4,300 people south of Concord.
In naming Mulholland to the top post, which has been vacant for 21 months, councilors cited his efforts to streamline municipal government and decades of management experience.
Mulholland came to Allenstown as a patrolman in 1994, after having previously served with the Auburn and Raymond, N.H., police departments. He worked his way up the ranks and was promoted to police chief in 2006, before becoming town administrator in 2013.
Mulholland said on Thursday that he applied to the Lebanon position because of the city’s status as an economic hub of the Upper Valley with unique challenges.
He also was drawn to the city’s existing green spaces, as well as official policies promoting sustainable energy and a mixed economy.
Mulholland also said he liked that residents were active in decision-making.
“It’s a beautiful area in which to live,” he said. “It has a lot of character.”
Lebanon Mayor Sue Prentiss said Mulholland stood out from other candidates because of his “extensive leadership experience” managing multiple departments while also having served time in the ranks of municipal government. She also lauded his efforts in Allenstown to create a more efficient town government.
“You have a duty to look at how you do your job and always look for more efficient ways to do it better,” she said.
Allenstown is known regionally as a cash-strapped community that, like Claremont, has seen rising education costs.
The tax rate currently stands at $32.11 per $1,000 of a property’s assessed value, the 15th highest in New Hampshire.
“I’m used to having to do more with less. It’s an absolute necessity,” Mulholland said.
Allenstown officials have gotten creative as a result, he said, adding they’ve pegged budget increases to the Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation. That’s resulted in some downsizing, but also a few new ways of doing things.
Mulholland is a well-known advocate for transparency in Allenstown, pushing the town to make more information available for citizens online. The town offices offer public Wi-Fi and allow visitors to make use of a computer there, the Concord Monitor reported.
“He really sort of took them to a new place in regard to automating operations there,” said Assistant Mayor Tim McNamara, adding much of Allenstown’s operations went paperless under Mulholland.
Lebanon has been without a permanent city manager since Dennis Luttrell was fired in March 2016, just six months after he took the job and moved to the city. Since then, longtime city employee Paula Maville has served as interim city manager, and is expected to serve as deputy city manager under Mulholland.
Officials haven’t said why they chose to terminate Luttrell, other than saying the decision wasn’t based on any malfeasance, such as conviction of a crime, intentional misconduct or gross negligence.
The City Council has been pressured to find a long-term replacement, and took several steps through the yearlong search process to ensure its pick would be a success, Prentiss said.
Early into the process, the city created a page on its website where citizens could submit recommendations, she said. An email address also was distributed to residents, community groups and the city’s boards and committees to collect comments.
When the board hired Municipal Resources to conduct a search, the Meredith, N.H.-based consulting firm held two public forums to receive input from residents. The firm also met with department heads, representatives of Lebanon’s four unions and nonunion employees, Prentiss said.
“We really expanded the horizon and the net of conversations,” she said.
The City Council elected to take its time completing a search, waiting almost two years after Luttrell’s firing before announcing Mulholland’s appointment.
“We definitely were deliberate about the pace and I think as we were getting closer to the end, I just wanted to cross the finish line,” Prentiss said. “But again, we dotted every I, crossed every T and left no stones unturned.”
Mulholland will make a base salary of $120,000. The city will pay up to $5,000 in moving expenses and will pay mileage on his personal vehicle for city business.
As a retired police chief, he also receives an annual pension of $36,425 from the New Hampshire Retirement System, taking advantage of a loophole that allows retired employees to receive pension payments while working as town administrators.
State and municipal employees who return to work after retirement normally are limited to 32 hours of work a week while collecting pensions.
Mulholland said his Manchester home also is on the market, and he plans to move to Lebanon in the near future.
The city’s staff were informed of Mulholland’s appointment on Thursday, Prentiss said, adding the new city manager did not meet with department heads before the City Council made its decision.
Police Chief Richard Mello confirmed he learned of the appointment on Thursday, adding he met Mulholland once during a class several years ago at the New Hampshire Police Academy.
“I think it’s good news. I think the City Council did their due diligence and ran a process with a professional organization,” Mello said. “I’m confident in the process they used.”
Mulholland said he’s visited the city 10 times since applying for the job, taking the time to visit area establishments and talk to residents. He’s also been watching City Council meetings for the last 4½ months.
Those efforts haven’t gone unnoticed, said Prentiss, who recognized Mulholland in the audience of at least one municipal meeting since the search process began.
“A hire like this has to be a match on both sides. It’s not just about what’s good for us, it’s about what’s good for the candidate,” she said. “He was very deliberate in the matchmaking.”
Mulholland was one of 30 candidates from 18 states who applied for the job, and one of a few from New Hampshire, said Alan Gould, CEO of MRI, which was paid $17,000 for the search.
Mulholland has worked for MRI in the past, helping produce studies for police departments and performing background investigations. That work won’t continue, however, because Mulholland’s contract with the city prohibits outside consulting work.
Mulholland’s experience in the Granite State also set him apart from other candidates, Gould said, adding the incoming manager is also well respected by his peers.
McNamara, the assistant mayor, said he was searching for candidates who could work well with city employees, had good communications skills and could be considered kind, compassionate leaders. Mulholland met all of those expectations, McNamara said, adding the incoming manager’s local connections were a bonus.
“It ended up being a New Hampshire guy not because he was from New Hampshire, but because he happened to be the best candidate.”
In 2015, Mulholland was named the Russ Marcoux Municipal Advocate of the Year, which is awarded to those who go “above and beyond” to advance the goals of the New Hampshire Municipal Association. Mulholland is a member of the association’s board of directors.
He also was named the New Hampshire Emergency Management Director of the Year in 2010, largely for his response to a 2008 ice storm and several floods that affected Allenstown earlier that year.
“Shaun personally checks on river levels in threatened areas of his community and runs an efficient emergency operations center,” then-state Director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Christoper Pope said at the time.
Mulholland also was known to sleep at the police station during storms, the Monitor reported.
Those efforts stood out to Councilor Karen Liot Hill, who compared Allenstown’s floods to the Upper Valley’s experience in the aftermath of the 2011 Tropical Storm Irene.
“In a city like ours you never know what you’re going to have to deal with, but you have to know that there are going to be some surprises along the way,” she said. “He seems to be a steady leader in a time of crisis.”
The city will hold a meet and greet with Mulholland on Jan. 31. He will meet with city staff beginning at 3 p.m., followed by a public session between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. The location of the meet and greet has not yet been determined.
Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.