AUBURN – It was the challenge of bigger things, of a bigger city with bigger budgets, that convinced Lincoln Town Manager Glenn Aho that Auburn was the place for him.

That, and Mayor John Jenkins.

Aho said Wednesday he expected to sign a contract with the Auburn City Council on Monday, declaring him the new city manager. He expects to take over the job from acting City Manager Laurie Smith in June, almost a year after Patricia Finnigan left the job.

Jenkins said Aho will be paid a $103,000 salary.

“It’s all happened very quickly, and I’ve spent a good part of my day today scrambling to notify my councilors of what was happening,” Aho said.

He was one of several candidates for the job named in a Twin City Times article in January. The names were included in a packet of resumes that was leaked to the weekly newspaper. The story was picked up by the Bangor Daily News, which circulates in Lincoln, where Aho worked.

“At that point, my council was wondering if I was using the Auburn job as leverage to advance my position here in Lincoln,” Aho said. His employment contract there expires this spring, and Aho didn’t want to taint his relationship with the town. He decided to remove his name from consideration.

“I didn’t know where I was in the running in Auburn, whether I was in the top three in Auburn or the bottom three,” he said. “I decided it wasn’t worth it.”

But Jenkins wasn’t deterred. He went up to Lincoln in February to meet with Aho and discuss the job.

“This is the one we feel is the best fit for our next step as a community,” Jenkins said. “The fact that he had withdrawn his name did not deter me because he fit what I and the council view as our needs.”

Aho said he trusted Jenkins and agreed to negotiate a contract.

“He explained that what had happened had been innocent and inadvertent, that it was not meant to happen that way,” Aho said.

“I love the southern part of the state, and I love Maine and Maine people,” he said. “And I’ve been in this job for 12 years. It’s good for a city, and for a manager, to change things after awhile.”

He’s had an interesting tenure in Lincoln, watching the town’s image of itself change.

“There was a lot of political turmoil and a lack of trust and accountability in the town government,” he said. “We got through that by being as transparent as possible and bringing trust back. And people started to look at Lincoln differently and take the town more seriously.”

He’s eager to get started in Auburn.

“I’ll just bring the skills that I have, but I know that I’ll have to adapt to a different culture and different expectations,” he said. “In the end, we’re just servants that have been placed in a position of trust. I have to be responsive to the needs of the community.”

Aho, 38, has been Lincoln’s town manager since 1995. He grew up in Bridgewater, in Aroostook County, and has an undergraduate degree from the University of Maine at Presque Isle and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Maine. Before taking the job in Lincoln, he worked as an administrative assistant to the Brewer city manager.

Jenkins and Aho had planned to wait until Monday’s City Council meeting to announce the hiring. Jenkins met with five city councilors this week in executive session to go over the contract and learned Wednesday morning that contract details had been leaked again.

That second leak forced his hand.

“It was just the six of us, and we didn’t have any papers or folders of resumes that could get out this time,” Jenkins said. In addition to Jenkins, the executive session was attended by Councilors Bob Mennealy, Ron Potvin, Robert Hayes, Bruce Bickford and Ray Berube.

“I specifically asked them not to discuss the contract,” Jenkins said. “Here we have a man that we’ve burned once before with a leak. Please, let’s not do it again.”

Jenkins said he was saddened to learn that contract information had been leaked.

“Who did the leaking, I don’t know,” Jenkins said. “But it had to be one of those five.”

Jenkins said he wouldn’t try to determine who leaked the information. He confronted councilors after the January leak, didn’t learn anything and wound up letting the matter drop.

“Some were offended that I’d even had to ask them,” Jenkins said. “We can’t work like that, without trust, so I will let it go. But I’m extremely disappointed and sad. It’s a pathetic thing to let happen.”