MANCHESTER — The panel overseeing the search for a superintendent of the Manchester School District is recommending a Chicago-based headhunter to find candidates.

After interviewing two school executive search firms via the Skype Internet video service, members of the Superintendent Search Committee unanimously voted to recommend Proact Search of Chicago.

The winning firm offered the lower of two bids for the contract, at $20,500 for professional services, plus expenses estimated at up to $8,000.

The second bidder, Ray and Associates of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, bid $28,950 in fees, plus expenses.

Both firms noted that the district would likely incur additional expenses for such things as flying candidates to town for interviews, hosting forums and advertising.

Mayor Ted Gatsas has made undertaking a professional search for a new superintendent a priority.

The mayor has promised to seek funds from the business community to pay for the search firm.

Earlier this year, Proact conducted a superintendent search in Portland, Maine. Gatsas, who had a successful career in the employee leasing industry before turning to politics, has previously said he spoke to officials in Portland about their search.

Based on those conversations, Gatsas said, estimates are that the cost of finding a successor for Thomas Brennan will be about $40,000.

Proact appeared to win favor from committee members on several counts.

Committee Chairman Ted Rokas said the company’s Portland experience made a favorable impression.

“I feel they have experience from around the area, and I like the way he interviewed,” Rokas said. “The other people were scrambling around; they obviously didn’t know the answer.”

Committeeman Roger Beauchamp caught the team from Ray and Associates flat-footed when he sprung a pop quiz on the five company representatives gathered in front of Skype cameras.

Beauchamp asked the Ray and Associates team how many school buildings, teachers and students are in the Manchester district.

The company’s principal was initially unable to answer, but as other members of his company vamped, he managed to get a fact sheet in front of him and eventually rattled off a series of statistics.

Committee member Debra Gagnon Langton said Proact CEO Greg Soloman’s willingness to listen to the school board on issues such as requiring candidates to have teaching experience was a factor in her choice.

Member Erika Connors noted that the lower fee for Proact had to be an issue for the cash-strapped school district.

School board member Christopher Stewart, who attended the meeting but is not a member of the search committee, endorsed the panel’s choice.

Proact’s Soloman was more conservative than his competitor about what Manchester needs to pay to attract a top superintendent.

When asked about salary, Greg Ray of Ray and Associates said in-state superintendent pay is not a good comparison because Manchester is far and away the biggest district in the state.

He said city schools appeared more comparable to communities such as Merrimack Valley border towns Haverhill and Lawrence in Massachusetts.

Haverhill, Mass., pays its superintendent $185,000, while Lawrence paid its school chief $209,000 — until he was indicted, convicted and jailed on embezzlement charges.

Manchester Superintendent Brennan is paid $165,000.

Soloman said that based on his experience in superintendent searches, a salary range of $150,000 to $170,000 might be appropriate.

“I think you’ll get great talent for that range,” Soloman said. “We’ll get people who are excited about the job.”

Committeeman Arthur Beaudry mused that he’s never seen a salary range posted where the successful candidate doesn’t feel entitled to the top of the scale.

If approved by the Board of School Committee in a special meeting Friday, Proact would begin a series of interviews with various segments of the community and conduct public meetings to get a sense of what “stakeholders” want in the next superintendent.

Information from the one-on-one interviews and community forums would be used to write advertisements and give Proact guidance in winnowing the resumes it receives for the position.

The group’s suggested timetable would see the position advertised in early 2013, with applications due by the end of the fourth month of the search.

After screening by the search firm, the school board would be presented with a set of finalists from which to choose the new school chief.

Brennan is due to retire from the Manchester post on July 30.

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Bill Smith may be reached at wsmith@unionleader.com.