BANGOR – The City Council has made some headway in its search for a new city clerk.

Earlier this summer, the current clerk, Gail Campbell, announced plans to retire after having held the post since February 1996.

Though she initially planned to work her last day Friday, Campbell said she has agreed to stay on, at least for a while.

“My intention is to stay as long as they’d like me to, at least until they get somebody else on board,” Campbell said Friday. “Part of me wants to stay forever. I love the people, and, for the most part, I love my job.”

In Bangor, the city clerk is one of four direct employees of the council, along with the city manager, assessor and solicitor.

The council received 38 applications for the position, Assistant City Manager Robert Farrar said Friday. In recent months, a committee of four councilors and two residents, one Democrat and one Republican, has narrowed the field to seven candidates, each of whom was interviewed.

The group is scheduled to meet again next week to resume its work.

Filling a key city post typically involves a three-month process that includes putting out a call for applicants, screening, interviews, follow-up interviews, and reference and background checks, Farrar said.

“And that’s if everything just zips along,” he said. “This process, in my opinion, has moved along fairly quickly.”

Besides area newspapers, the vacancy was advertised on the Maine Municipal Association’s online job bulletin board, Farrar said. While the vast majority of the applicants were from Maine, he said, there was some interest from people from outside the state.

A native of Bar Harbor and Westbrook College graduate, Campbell has been city clerk since 1996, when she succeeded Russell McKenna, who held the position for 18 years.

Campbell’s career with the city began in 1968, when she worked at one of the city’s swimming pools.

She then moved to City Hall, where she ran the switchboard for several years. In 1978, Campbell took a 12-year break from municipal service to raise her son. She initially returned in 1991 to fill a temporary post involving business licensing in the clerk’s office. That led to a move to vital records and finally to the deputy clerk’s job in 1993.