The Town of Londonderry will soon have new leadership in its Planning Department as current Director of Economic Development and Deputy Town Manager Kellie Caron prepares to leave for a new position.
The announcement was made during the most recent Planning Board meeting by Planning Board member John Farrell, who noted that his daughters had attended basketball camps coached by Caron.
Caron said she will be joining the Concord Planning Department.
While her official last day with the Town has not yet been announced, Caron said during the Planning Board meeting that her final board meeting would be June 10.
A Londonderry High School graduate, Caron has steadily advanced through the ranks of Town government in recent years.
She was first hired in the summer of 2022 by then-Town Manager Mike Malaguti as Town Planner following a vacancy in the department.
That winter, she was promoted to Assistant Town Manager and Director of Economic Development.
The promotion came shortly before the Town announced a restructuring of the Planning Department that included the elimination of the Associate Planner position previously held by Laura Gandia.
After current Town Manager Shaun Mulholland assumed his role, he changed Caron’s title from Assistant Town Manager to Deputy Town Manager.
It is unclear whether Town Councilors were aware of Caron’s impending departure during the May 4 Town Council meeting, when Councilor Ted Combes suggested expanding the Town’s economic development efforts, including hiring a full-time economic development director.
Combes’ proposal was tied to the Town’s strategic goal of enhancing economic development opportunities to strengthen Londonderry’s economic identity.
A memo prepared by staff stated: Add an action item and a KPI as follows:
- Priority Action Item: Create an economic development program and determine the necessary leadership structure to execute the plan.
- Key Performance Indicator: Roadmap the economic development plan to include roles and responsibilities by 6/30/2027.
Combes noted during the meeting that the Town previously had an economic development director for approximately 10 to 15 years, but the salary funding was later redirected to other municipal needs.
“We should have an economic development director for the size of our Town and where we are located within the state,” Combes said during the meeting.
Mulholland said the Town does not currently plan to fill the Deputy Town Manager position.
“The plan is to advertise for a Director of Planning & Development,” Mulholland wrote in an email. “We will not be filling the Deputy Town Manager position at this time.”
The Town is also currently without a Town Planner. Mulholland said the Town plans to utilize services from the Southern New Hampshire Planning Commission, as it has in the past, along with contracted application reviews through the Stantec engineering firm to help address staffing gaps.