NORWICH — A new member of the Selectboard to be elected next week will likely help decide whether Norwich Town Manager Herb Durfee keeps his job after the current five-member board adjourned Wednesday night without offering him a new contract.

The Selecboard met in executive session to discuss a “proposed improvement plan and possible terms of (a) contract,” but left having completed neither.

They’ll next meet on March 11, a week after Selectboard Chairman John Pepper steps down and his replacement is sworn in.

Pepper said in an email on Friday that there was “nothing to report” from Wednesday’s meeting.

However, he added that a contract will “likely” be finalized at the March meeting. He did not respond to follow-up emails.

Meanwhile, Durfee said there appears to be progress on the contract talks, although he hasn’t been directly involved in the Selectboard discussions.

The board told Durfee before its executive session on Wednesday that he might be called into the talks. And while he wasn’t, Durfee views the gesture as a positive sign.

“It seems like with them making that motion, they may be closer to talking to me about (the contract),” he said on Friday. “But I don’t know because I haven’t been asked to have a discussion with them.”

In the meantime, Durfee said he is trying to better his performance without formal direction from the Selectboard.

He’s issuing regular reports, including more people in decisions and attempting to prioritize requests from the Selectboard, he said.

“I’m just trying to look at my last couple of evaluations and interpret within them, where (the Selectboard) might want to see improvement,” he said.

Durfee, 57, whose contract ends on April 30, has seen his position become a political football after the Selectboard in January declined to offer him a new contract and then reconsidered ahead of Norwich’s annual Town Meeting vote.

The board voted, 3-2, in late January against entering talks “regarding a new contract.”

At the time, board members Mary Layton and Roger Arnold supported opening contract talks while Pepper, Vice Chairwoman Claudette Brochu and board member John Langhus were opposed.

Pepper then changed his mind, and the board voted this month, 3-2, to reconsider.

Durfee, who makes $89,780 a year, is asking for a two-year contract that includes a salary increase, five additional vacation days and an allowance to attend the International City/County Management Association’s annual conference in Toronto.

Durfee also requests the inclusion of a “for-cause” section in the contract, which would prevent his firing for reasons other than “substantial shortcoming detrimental” to the town’s interests.

Both candidates vying for Pepper’s seat have expressed a willingness to maintain Durfee, at least for the time being.

Doug Wilberding said on Friday that he would be “open to discussing (the contract) but not on the terms Herb has proposed.”

Instead, Wilberding said he would support a contract through 2020 with no raises, no additional vacation time and elimination of the “for-cause” language proposed.

Wilberding added that Durfee also would have to agree to attend all of the town’s finance committee meetings.

Durfee hired a finance director who fell prey to a cyber scam shortly after starting the job, resulting in the loss of nearly $250,000 in taxpayers’ money. Most of the money was recovered and the finance director was later fired.

“Under the circumstances of the phishing incident, I just don’t think he gets everything on his wish list,” Wilberding said.

A message requesting comment from Rob Gere, Wilberding’s opponent, was not returned on Friday.

However, Gere has previously expressed support for Durfee and said the town manager is capable of improving.

“I think he’s able of resolving some of those problems now that he’s aware of the seriousness that the board took them with,” Gere told the Valley News earlier this month.

Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.