Lisbon interim Town Manager Jim Bennett laid out the process and considerations in finding a new town manager to town councilors Tuesday, starting with partnering with a recruitment firm.

The typical time frame for finding a new town manager takes up to 28 weeks, Bennett said. Recruitment firms are often used to help find the right candidates. They can help build candidate profiles, which help towns know which candidates will be best for the position.

Six recruitment firms have submitted proposals: Paracademic Partners of Livonia, New York; Strategic Government Resources of Keller, Texas; HR Maine Consulting of Yarmouth; First Choice Recruitment & Consulting of Gardiner; Rethink Local of Gardiner, New York; and Maine Municipal Association of Augusta.

The cost ranges from a few thousand dollars to more than $50,000, but Bennett urged councilors to consider the investment when looking at each proposal.

He outlined step by step the process, which includes adopting a recruitment time frame and recruitment firm, creating an ideal candidate profile, completing a recruitment package, reviewing applicants and the selection process, selecting the final candidate and negotiating terms of employment.

Having a good hiring process will help the town identify the candidate that has the strengths needed to reach specific town goals or fix specific problems outlined by councilors, Bennett said.  

“A lot of times the decisions you make are not as important as how you do the decision making,” he said.

To get started, Bennett recommended councilors create a subcommittee to consider the six proposals and have the subcommittee present some suggestions at the mid-December council meeting on the best proposals.

Current councilors Chair Fern Larochelle, Vice Chair Chris Camire, Chris Hodgkins, JoJean Keller, Mark Lunt, Nicholas Craig and Norm Albert, and recently elected councilors Roger Bickford, Charles Turgeon, Dale Crafts and Gregory Garnett will meet Nov. 25 to discuss the recruitment firm proposals, though most of that discussion will likely take place in executive session.

It was first suggested that the subcommittee be made up of three council members, but three of the four newly elected councilors were at the meeting and suggested the entire council should meet to make that decision.

The new councilors will be sworn in at the council meeting Dec. 2. They will succeed Keller, Lunt, Albert and Hodgkins.

“It feels a little clunky but I think we’re trying to do the right thing and make sure we’re getting the legwork done before the new council gets seated so we’re all making informed decisions together,” Camire said.

Last month, amid public fallout from a $1.3 million funding shortfall due to an accounting error, which dramatically raised property taxes this year, Town Manager Glenn Michalowski resigned to become the Raymond town manager. His resignation was accepted Oct. 21.

On Oct. 28, the council named Assistant Town Manager Sarah Bennett as acting town manager and on Nov. 5 appointed Jim Bennett interim town manager for six months, according to Town Clerk Alice Richards. The two Bennetts are not related.