After Returning From Sabbatical, Concord City Manager Decides To Retire Early In 2027

CONCORD, NH — Concord will have a new city manager sometime next year.

Tom Aspell, who just returned from a short sabbatical, has informed the mayor and city council that he will retire on Jan. 31, 2027. Aspell has been city manager for more than 20 years. He was assistant city manager before that and was originally hired in the late 1990s as Concord's first community development director.

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Aspell said his work with the city had been more than just a profession but, instead, "my vocation." He said Concord was also his home and he was proud to call it so.

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"I have been fortunate to work with many dedicated elected officials, talented and hard-working department heads and employees, and many residents, business owners and community partners who profoundly care for this city," he added. "Being part of Concord for these last 28 years, through all of the changes and progress, has been truly rewarding to me, and I am most grateful for having had the opportunity to serve."

Mayor Byron Champlin said the city council will soon create a process to recruit, select, and appoint a new city manager at a future meeting.

"The process will be advanced carefully, with great consideration for continuity for residents, businesses, and city staff," he said.

Champlin added, "On behalf of the city council, I want to recognize Mr. Aspell's extraordinary contributions and tenure with the City of Concord, his stewardship of the community, and the positive, lasting impacts he has made."

Aspell, who came to Concord from Massachusetts after working in the Merrimack Valley. He attended Suffolk University in the late 1970s and early 1980s and also received his master's degree in public administration there. In 2013, Aspell attended a senior executive in state and local government program at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

Aspell called the city "great" because of its "shared belief that together we can always meet our challenges." He said residents understood that they were responsible "to work collaboratively together to leave the community better than we found it." That work, Aspell said, could be found in the contributions of the council, staffers, boards and committees, community partners, and residents.

"It has truly been an honor to have served Concord, and I am forever most thankful for (the) opportunity given to me those many years ago," Aspell said.

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