JAY — Selectpersons will be the hiring committee for the new town manager, Town Manager Ruth Cushman said.

The board said Monday it decided to do it, she said.

Cushman has been town manager for 12 years.

Cushman plans to retire before the end of the year. Though she originally had planned to retire June 30, she and the board agreed on a one-year extension in December 2012.

She said at the time that it did not mean she would work another year. Conditions of the contract state that she can give a 90-day notice at any time, and she will help them through the hiring process.

“I have a very good working relationship with this board, and there are several pending items that need attention,” she said in December. “Both parties felt that it is in the best interest to wrap those things up before we change managers.”

Cushman had said she planned to start working on an advertisement and job description for the position after July 1.

She has also been preparing information that the next manager will need to know.  There are five union bargaining units and a paper mill, which means that the next manager will have to know about labor relations and tax-increment financing programs. The town granted the mill a TIF several years ago.

dperry@sunjournal.com