LONDONDERRY — Shaun Mulholland is stepping into the role of town manager.
Mulholland, a New Hampshire native, is an experienced administrator who recently worked as the city manager for Lebanon for 7½ years.
Now, he is excited to step into his new position, a move he said was influenced by Londonderry’s growth.
“Londonderry is a rapidly growing community, there’s a lot of activity there. It’s almost twice the size of the city of Lebanon even though it’s only a town,” Mulholland said.
“In my business, there’s a lot of positives about the town of Londonderry.”
Though he had not officially taken office yet, Mulholland said he had already been welcomed to the community by a number of Londonderry residents. He begins work Monday.
“It’s been a very warm reception by the folks in Londonderry. I mean, a lot of people emailed and called, I was very impressed by that,” he said.
Mulholland said he plans to bring Londonderry’s records more into the digital age.
“It’s a very paper-heavy operation, and I digitize them, making records available, transparency initiative, public engagement initiative, those are two key components of that,” Mulholland said. “Bringing in technology and the use of AI to foster that is a critical component of that.”
He also said this modernization tends to allow young people to engage more with local government.
“They are way ahead of the curve, and that’s the realm that they are living in. That is absolutely critical because we are not reaching out,” Mulholland said.
“We don’t have that interface and engagement with them, but we need to be able to do that. They are the future.”
Mulholland want to also bring a team-based leadership style to the role, focusing on collaboration and impartiality.
“I work in teams, so I don’t work in silence – I work in teams. I’m also a member of the International City Managers Association, so we are neutral. We don’t get involved with one faction or another,” he said.
He and his team will approach engaging with residents in a similar manner.
“One, we’re going to increase the amount of transparency with local government and two, the public engagement opportunities. Those are two critical factors that I think people will appreciate while we’re there,” Mulholland said.
Mainly, Mulholland said he is ready to fill the role and serve townspeople.
“I look forward to getting to work on Monday morning and working with the people at the Town of Londonderry,” he said.