WAYNE -- Selectmen have recruited a new town manager after a search that lasted nearly two months and attracted 18 applicants.

The town has hired Amy Bernard to the post, which has been vacant since July 25, when Pam Grimshaw stepped down to accept a position as an accountant at an Augusta non-profit organization.

Bernard is currently a management intern for the town of Barre, Vt., and earned a master's degree in Public Administration from the University of Maine. She is working toward a second master's degree, in Community Planning and Development, at the University of Southern Maine.

She will start at her new post Sept. 24.

"This will be her first town manager position," Wayne selectman Gary Kenny said Wednesday. "She seems to have a very good management background both through her education and the intern experience."

The search committee unanimously agreed on Bernard after naming five finalists from the initial applicant pool and interviewing three. Two of the five finalists, Kenny said, declined the opportunity to interview when they learned of the salary they would be offered.

Bernard will earn a salary of nearly $39,000 for the job, which is a 35-hour-a-week position.

Her contract will expire on June 30 of next year, Kenny said, to allow future contracts to start at the beginning of a new fiscal year.

"I am very optimistic that we will renew after that," Kenny said.

The town's five selectmen, tax collector, town clerk, a resident and Grimshaw served on the search committee.