The Sequim City Council agreed Monday to ask Tom Waldron of Waldron and Co. to begin a search for a new city manager, a position that Waldron said could be filled as early as mid-September.

Waldron presented three options to councilors Monday: start the search effective immediately, begin the search in September to have a city manager by the end of the year, or start a search next April.

The more immediate search, Waldron said, gives Sequim a candidate as early as possible, but said each option presents different positives and negatives, some of them having to do with elections in the fall.

The council voted 6-0 to seek a city manager candidate immediately; mayor Laura Dubious was not present.

Linda Herzog has been

Sequim's interim city manager since December.

In May 2008, council members fired city manager Bill Elliott and had police chief Bob Spinks fill that role until they hired Herzog.

"We've been way, way too long without a permanent city manager," council member Paul McHugh said Monday.