Bainbridge Island’s next city manager may be a city hall insider.

The city council is considering hiring a familiar face to replace Doug Schulze, who has resigned to take a city manager’s job in Banning, Calif.

At this week’s council meeting, the council gave the OK to Mayor Kol Medina to begin talks about a city manager employment contract with Deputy Manager Morgan Smith.

The proposed arrangement would see Smith — who served as the city’s interim manager before Schulze was hired six years ago — take on the position for two years.

During the second year with Smith as manager, the city would start a nationwide search for a new city manager. Smith would then leave employment with the city at the end of her two-year contract.

The move would help the city get through the heavy workload it has already planned, Medina said.

The nationwide search for the city’s next top employee, he added, could start during the last nine months of Smith’s term.

The suggestion to have Smith finish her employment with the city in two years was her idea, Medina stressed.

“I don’t think anyone here wants Morgan to leave,” Medina said. “We keep saying ‘Morgan will leave’ like we want her out of her. That’s not the case.”

Smith has been a respected and admired city official, inside city hall and out, during her time on Bainbridge.

She was unanimously approved by the council as interim manager in 2012 following the firing of then-manager Brenda Bauer, and city hall employees lobbied the council, without success, to hire Smith as the new full-time city manager.

Smith came to work for Bainbridge Island as deputy city manager in October 2010. Previously, she had been the executive director for the Bainbridge Island Arts & Humanities Council, and before that, she served as the chief of strategic planning and director of fiscal policy for the city of Atlanta.

Bainbridge will soon be without its city manager.

Schulze, who has been city manager for Bainbridge since November 2012, submitted his letter of resignation Aug. 3. His last official day as city manager is Oct. 2, but his actual last day of work is Aug. 21.

Schulze currently has a salary of $14,854 per month ($178,252 per year) as Bainbridge’s top official.

He earlier accepted the city manager position in Banning, Calif., and the Banning City Council was scheduled to approve an employment contract for Schulze this week.

Schulze has already signed the proposed three-year agreement, which will see him receive an annual salary of $210,048, an increase of $24,049 over the salary of Banning’s interim manager. Under the agreement, the city of Banning can terminate the contract without cause, with Schulze receiving a severance package that includes six months of salary.

Not everyone on the Bainbridge council supported the idea at Tuesday’s council meeting of hiring Smith as a two-year manager.

Councilwoman Rasham Nassar said the notion had been added to the council’s agenda without public notice.

Councilman Ron Peltier agreed.

“We could have had it on the agenda so people would know about it,” Peltier said.

“I don’t support hiring Morgan Smith as the next city manager,” he added.

“I would support her being a candidate in a process where we looked far and wide for the best possible person to fill the position,” Peltier said.

Councilman Matt Tirman said the public would have a chance to comment on the idea at upcoming council meetings, however.

The council, on a 5-2 vote with Nassar and Peltier opposed, agreed to have the mayor begin talks on a potential contract with Smith.