EXETER — City Manager Russ Dean will continue to lead the city for another year.
The Select Board announced Monday their decision to approve a one-year contract extension for Dean, effective December 28 through December 27, 2025. The new contract includes an increase in base salary of approximately 5%, which will increase his salary increases from $154,000 to $161,792.
Russ Dean has been Exeter’s city manager since 2005. He and the Select Board recently agreed to a one-year contract.
This is the second consecutive one-year extension the city has agreed to with Dean, with renewed talk of a “succession agreement” to be negotiated within six months. Before the final one-year contract came into effect at the end of 2023, he was given a seven-year extension in 2016.
A Stratham native, Dean began his role as Exeter city manager in 2005 after serving in similar leadership positions in several Massachusetts cities.
This contract extension marks his twentieth year serving the city.
Niko Papakonstantis, chairman of the board, praised Dean’s “impressive” performance Monday, noting, “It’s not often you see a city manager stay in one city for so long.”
During his twenty-year tenure, Dean has played a key role in several important projects in the community, including the creation of the Epping Road TIF District in 2015, the removal of the Great Dam in 2016 and the recently completed Squamscott River Siphon Improvement Project.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Exeter extends Town Manager Russ Dean’s contract for another year
