He wasn’t their first pick, but will hopefully be the last.

After the Cannabis Control Commission’s initial choice to fill their vacant executive director position backed out at the last minute earlier this month, commissioners voted on Wednesday to offer the job to Travis Ahern, who currently serves as Town Administrator in Holliston.

The pay will be anywhere between $156,000 and $217,000 per year.

While Ahern wasn’t selected in the first round of interviews for the position overseeing day-to-day operations at the Commission, he is nevertheless a well-qualified and vetted candidate, according to Acting Chair Bruce Stebbins.

“During our interviews, and subsequent review of the candidates, I know there was considerable discussion and two candidates emerged as solid contenders for this position,” he said.

The first candidate — Illinois Department of Agriculture Cannabis Division Director David Lakeman — was very nearly hired after unanimous selection by the full commission in October.

However, Lakeman turned down the position in the midst of contract negotiations (Stebbins said he cited personal and professional reasons), leaving the commission in essentially the same position they’ve been in since former Executive Director Shawn Collins stepped down in early December of 2023.

Ahern was one of three other applicants identified for review by the full Commission after selection by a committee tasked with finding someone to fill Collins’ shoes. The CCC’s Chief People Officer, Debbie Hilton-Creek, has held the executive director’s position at the commission in an acting capacity for most of the last year.

If he accepts the job, Ahern will be running an agency responsible for the state’s $7 billion legal cannabis industry, according to Hilton-Creek.

While the commission has spent a year very publicly trying to replace Collins, Stebbins said that filling the role has otherwise proceeded at a normal pace and through the regular processes used to fill a job at any agency or corporation. The requirement to conduct Commission business in the open, however, sometimes means that the silence between public meetings can become filled with an unfounded perception of inaction, Stebbins said.

That’s not the case here, he said Wednesday.

“The recruitment process we’re working through, though public in so many ways, remains similar to other recruitment efforts for other positions across this agency, and I know in both the public and private sector,” he said.

“You recruit and identify good candidates, you screen them, you make offers to top candidates, you pursue other options if a candidate says ‘no,’ and ultimately you hire a qualified person for the position,” Stebbins said.

If Ahern says ‘no,’ it’s essentially back to the drawing board for the CCC, who also voted to reconvene on the matter if necessary. Their next scheduled public meeting will be on January 9, and Stebbins told the Herald he expects to have an update for the public then.

Ahern did not return a request for comment on his intentions regarding the job offer.