By PATRICK ADRIAN
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CLAREMONT — Assistant Mayor Allen Damren said on Wednesday that the City Council has whittled the selection for city manager down to three candidates and could make a decision in about three weeks.
Last week, the Claremont City Manager Search Committee had narrowed the list to four candidates, from an original pool of over 50 applicants. The search committee interviewed the four candidates over a two-day period last week, interviewing two on Wednesday and two on Saturday. The council convened on Saturday afternoon to interview the four candidates in a nonpublic session.
Since that time, one candidate has officially withdrawn, Damren said.
Damren said that the council plans to schedule two meet-and-greet sessions for the candidates with city employees and the public before finalizing its decision.
The council has not announced who will take over as acting city manager for interim City Manager John MacLean, who serves his last day as interim today. MacLean took the interim role on Jan. 4 after the council voted on Jan. 2 to terminate the contract of former manager Ryan McNutt.
MacLean told the council that their options for acting city manager could include Finance Director Mary Walter, Police Chief Mark Chase or another city employee. Maclean also said that he could be available again after Aug. 12, in the event that the council has not hired a permanent replacement.
Council members did not violate public meeting law
Claremont legal counsel Shawn Tanguay said on Wednesday that the city councilors who publicly attended the Policy Committee meeting on Thursday, July 18, did not violate New Hampshire’s Right-to-Know law regarding public meetings, because the members did not decide any action specific to the City Council.
“In order for [the gathering] to be a meeting, the council members would have to make decisions as a council at that meeting,” Tanguay said. “As I understand it, that did not occur.”
Last Thursday, two councilors, Andrew O’Hearne and Kristin Kenniston, attended the Policy Committee meeting as members of the public. Since three councilors sit on the Policy Committee, O’Hearne’s and Kenniston’s attendance unintentionally created a majority of councilors in the same room, where the committee discussed ordinance updates and a potential charter amendment proposal that will eventually go to the City Council for consideration.
Tanguay said that councilors are legally allowed to show up at other meetings and weigh in on items. The policy committee is an advisory board to the council and does not make binding decisions.
Councilors said on Wednesday that the gathering was unintentional. Kenniston, as a new member to the council, said she wanted to attend the meeting to see how the process works and did not know that O’Hearne would be there or that a majority of councilors would be present. O’Hearne has attended past policy committee meetings as a member of the public.
Mayor Charlene Lovett, who chairs the Policy Committee, said that her focus was on conducting the meeting and it did not occur to her that a majority of councilors were in the room.
However, Tanguay advised the Council to avoid making a pattern of group appearances. While their gathering was lawful, it can create a public perception of distrust or suspicion, which would never be in the Council’s interest.
Tanguay suggested to councilors that if they know in advance that a majority of councilors might attend the same meeting, to let the public know through a formal announcement.
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