LEBANON — City officials have tapped the mayor of Laconia, N.H., as the sole finalist to be Lebanon’s next city manager.

Andrew Hosmer has been mayor of Laconia since 2020 and served as a Democratic state senator for District 7 from 2012 to 2016. At the time, the district, which has since been redrawn, did not include any Upper Valley towns but approached New London. He also is a senior policy advisor at Preti Strategies, a Concord-based consulting firm.

“I’m just thrilled to be the finalist and the possibility of moving to and working in Lebanon is something my wife and I are very excited about,” Hosmer said when reached by phone Thursday. He declined to comment further on the position until the job is finalized.

If chosen to serve as Lebanon’s manager, Hosmer will resign from his current role in Laconia in “late summer or early fall, possibly in September,” as well as from his job in Concord, the Laconia Daily Sun reported Wednesday.

Hosmer told the Daily Sun he is looking forward to serving in an apolitical position after being in politics for many years.

At a City Council meeting Wednesday night, Lebanon Mayor Doug Whittlesey said the city is still finalizing Hosmer’s contract, though he did not identify the candidate at the time. The city identified Hosmer in a Thursday morning news release.

In a Thursday email, Whittlesey declined to share a salary for the position because negotiations are ongoing. The talks have no “firm timeline” but “all parties are hopeful that we can reach an agreement expeditiously.”

The job listing for the position includes a salary range of up to $180,000 per year. Former City Manager Shaun Mulholland’s salary for 2025 was $164,000.

Mulholland, originally hired in 2018, left Lebanon at the end of May to serve as town manager in Londonderry, N.H.

Since Mulholland’s departure, consulting firm Municipal Resources Inc. has been assisting in the search process for a new city manager. The firm also contracted with the city to provide the leadership of interim city manager Jack Wozmak, an MRI consultant who has served as an interim manager in other Upper Valley towns over the years.

The position was open to an “innovative, proactive, and engaging community leader” with preference for a master’s degree and “7 years of relevant progressively responsible management experience,” according to the listing.

Hosmer was one of about 16 applicants, Wozmak said in an email.

Hosmer earned a law degree from Suffolk University in the early 1990s, after attending UMass Amherst, according to a LinkedIn profile. He was then an assistant district attorney in Hampden County, Mass. until 1996, when he started as the manager at AutoServ, a Tilton, N.H.-based car dealership where he worked until 2017.

Hosmer also co-founded Navigating Recovery of the Lakes Region, according to LinkedIn.

The nonprofit runs a supportive housing program and offers other resources for people struggling with substance use disorders such as recovery coaching, group meetings and family and parenting recovery courses.

Per MRI’s contract, Wozmak will overlap with the next city manager to help them transition into the role and will stay on for the duration of the city’s budget process, which runs through December.

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