AUBURN — Assistant City Manager Laurie Smith is leaving for Wiscasset.

The longtime administrator, who came to Auburn in 1999, led a pool of 29 applicants for Wiscasset’s town manager job.

“The Board was very impressed,” said Wiscasset’s Interim Town Manager Don Gerrish, who helped selectmen and a search committee through the selection process. “She has a wealth of experience and knowledge.”

Smith submitted her notice to Auburn City Administrator Glenn Aho on Monday. He hopes to fill the job as soon as possible, he said. She officially ends her job in Auburn on July 1 and begins her new job in Wiscasset on July 19.

By noontime, he had already completed an advertisement looking for a replacement with experience.

“The assistant is responsible to, works with and supports the city manager to ensure the successful financial and operational performance of the city,” the ad read.

Smith worked a variety of jobs in the city. She was hired as a special projects coordinator, helping to create several downtown events such as the annual holiday celebrations.

In 2004, she became the city’s interim finance director. A year later, she became the assistant city manager. And beginning in 2007, she spent several months as the interim city manager.

Prior to coming to Auburn, Smith served as the town manager in Boothbay Harbor and Oxford.

Smith said Monday that she grew up on the coast and was familiar with the area.

“I enjoy that area, and it seems like they have what I need,” she said. “I think it’s a good match.”

Smith said Wiscasset officials are letting her maintain her Auburn home for a year, until her daughter graduates from Edward Little High School.

Gerrish, a longtime town manger in Brunswick, said Smith stood out among the applicants for the Wiscasset job.

Leaders there interviewed the top six candidates two times.

Smith’s work on financial issues seemed to sway the group, as did her previous experience as a town manager, said Gerrish, who did not want the job permanently. Rather, the longtime Brunswick town manager was hired to help find his permanent replacement.

In the new job, Smith will be paid a starting salary of $85,000. After six months, that will rise to $87,500.

She signed a three-year contract.

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