If all goes according to plan, the town of Jaffrey will have a new town manager in place before Town Meeting.
The town received about 50 resumes from 16 states – and one from the United Kingdom – according to Alan Gould of Municipal Resources Inc., the organization hired to recruit a new town manager.
“Jaffrey is a desirable place to work,” said Gould, about the high number of applications submitted.
Current Town Manager Dave Caron announced in October that he would be leaving Jaffrey to become town administrator in Derry. Caron’s last day is Friday.
Gould said MRI is currently in the process of whittling the candidates down, and the pool has already been narrowed to 15.
Those final 15 have been sent essay questions, the answers to which must be submitted by Dec. 12, which will narrow the pool to about five or six applicants, who will then be interviewed by the town’s search committee.
“We do the essay questions to ensure the candidates are committed to the process,” said Gould.
There was some debate among the search committee members as to whether the interviews should be conducted in one or two days, with Gould saying from his experience, one day made more sense.
“It’s hard enough to coordinate everyone’s schedule for one night, let alone two,” said Gould. “It’s like herding cats.”
In the interim, the town has hired John MacLean, who previously worked as Keene’s city manager from August 1995 to October 2015, as interim town manager.
MacLean will be paid $85 per hour for his services as a contracted employee through MRI and will serve until a permanent manager is hired.
Nicholas Handy can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 235 or nhandy@ledgertranscript.com. He is also on Twitter @nhandyMLT.