Lebanon City Council seeks replacement

LEBANON — The City Council is searching for a Lebanon resident to join its ranks after Councilor Shane Smith resigned last month from his seat representing Ward 2.

Applications to fill the seat until the March 2020 election are being accepted through Sunday, with the council hoping to appoint a candidate during its Aug. 21 meeting.

It’s unclear why Smith, who was elected to a second term this year, decided to resign. Emails seeking comment were not returned on Friday, and he didn’t provide a reason in his resignation letter.

“I am grateful for having the opportunity to serve the City of Lebanon for the past two years, and I offer my best wishes for its continued success,” Smith wrote in a July 11 letter to Mayor Tim McNamara.

Smith, a finance officer at Hypertherm, was first elected to the nine-member council in 2017, when he defeated former councilor Dean Sorenson, 225-149. He ran unopposed again in March.

During the last two years, Smith kept a tight watch of Lebanon’s finances, opposing efforts he thought would overburden city taxpayers.

Smith’s departure marks the first vacancy on the City Council in nearly nine years.

In 2010, then-councilor George Sykes resigned to take a long-term assignment assisting the American Red Cross in Haiti. The council appointed Erling Heistad that September to fill the seat.

Applications for the post can be found on the city’s website at lebanonnh.gov under the tab titled “Council Requests Applications for Vacant Council Seat.”

Applicants also must be residents of Ward 2, the middle portion of the city that stretches from the west and south sides of downtown to the Exit 19 area.