Port Townsend Mayor Deborah Stinson reported the city had, as of July 8, a signed offer letter in hand from “our preferred candidate,” John Mauro, for the position of city manager, and she looks forward to finalizing the contract, for his and the City Council’s approval, as soon as possible. While no set dates were supplied for either finalizing the contract or submitting it to Mauro or the City Council, interim city manager Nora Mitchell reported at the July 8 City Council meeting that she and the City Council members had all received emails from Mauro over the preceding weekend. “I have a lot of faith that this will be a good intro, as we work toward getting him into the States, and out to the West Coast,” Mitchell said, referring to Mauro’s need to move from his current home in Auckland, New Zealand, where he is Chief Sustainability Officer for that city. “His whole family is very excited for the opportunity,” Stinson said. “He can hardly wait to get here and start working with us. Of course, that’ll take a little time to get him here, but when he’s here, he’s going to be fully ready to engage.” Mitchell noted the first step was getting the signed offer letter, with the next step being the finalizing of the contract.