Lebanon
A group of three Lebanon city councilors are expected to begin meeting next week to discuss the search, according to a news release issued on Wednesday.
The group will make recommendations next month to the full council regarding a search timeline, candidate qualifications and how the city will choose an outside firm to conduct the search.
“I think the next Governance Committee meeting will really kick off the official start of the city manager search,” said Councilor Karen Liot Hill, who sits on the committee with Mayor Georgia Tuttle and Assistant Mayor Suzanne Prentiss.
Lebanon has been without a city manager since the City Council voted in March to fire Dennis Luttrell.
Since then, longtime city employee Paula Maville has been performing his duties as interim city manager.
Maville, who recently celebrated 30 years working for the city, said she won’t be applying for the job. When former City Manager Greg Lewis left in 2015, Maville came to the conclusion that she needed more time working under someone experienced in municipal matters.
“I still feel like it’s not my time. Lebanon is a complex and challenging command,” Maville said in an interview on Thursday, adding the city would do well hiring a demonstrated leader.
Luttrell was hired in August 2015 with an annual salary of $125,000. He was chosen with the help of The Mercer Group, a management consulting firm with offices in Georgia and New Mexico.
City officials have declined to detail why they fired Luttrell in March, other than to say that the arrangement had not worked out as expected.
This is the fourth time in Liot Hill’s 12 years on the council that a city manager search is being conducted, a trend she hopes the new search will rectify.
“That is not an ideal situation for a city to be in, so I think it’s important that we get this right,” she said.
With a new search underway, Liot Hill said she hopes for more communication between candidates and the council, including more in-depth reviews of candidates’ previous positions.
“That can be a challenge, getting the right information about someone’s background,” she said. “Letters of reference tell one side of the story, but it’s important to really have a good sense of the full story with each candidate.”
When he was hired, Luttrell came to Lebanon with more than 30 years of government experience and last held a post in Somerset, Mass.
But officials there said he had been terminated for not being an effective town administrator.
“ … I believe not one of us was contacted (by the city) for comment,” Somerset Selectboard Chairman David Berube said in an email shortly after Luttrell left Lebanon.
Prentiss, the assistant mayor, said she’s most concerned about relaying the challenges and opportunities applicants will face in Lebanon.
“That’s a No. 1 priority. We need to be sure to get that right,” she said
When a new manager does come to Lebanon, he or she will be working with a new mayor and possibly a new assistant mayor.
Tuttle recently announced her intent to resign from the City Council effective this March, ending her eight-year tenure as mayor.
“Despite the reward of this work, time commitments to my medical practice and the three national health care related boards upon which I serve have increased substantially over the past year,” Tuttle, a dermatologist who serves on the American Medical Association’s board of trustees, wrote in a letter last week.
Many who have worked with Tuttle said her time in office was marked by a commitment to fairness and decorum.
“Of all the people I worked with, she is as good as any and probably better than many others,” said Lewis, the former city manager, in an interview last week.
Tuttle was on the council when Lewis was hired in 2011, and was thoughtful about leading the council while also allowing him to run the city’s day-to-day operations, he said.
“She was calm, she was responsible, she tried to maintain order but also let everyone have their say,” Lewis said.
With Tuttle stepping down, Prentiss said she’s open to the idea of stepping into the mayor role. But the voters would have to elect her to another term in March, and the City Council also would have to see her fit for the mayorship.
Prentiss noted that Tuttle always tries to keep the taxpayer in mind while also balancing city goals to create a walkable and more energy-efficient Lebanon.
The two don’t always agree, but Prentiss said Tuttle approaches every debate with integrity.
“It’s been a pleasure and an honor. I consider (Tuttle) to be a friend,” Prentiss said.
Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.