City Manager Doug Schulze informed the council during Monday’s session that the city will likely be prepared to conduct full interviews by late May.

The city hired Victoria Harris of Houser Martin Morris last March to begin recruiting candidates for the in-house position.

Schulze has since conducted nine pre-interviews of potential candidates, and he anticipates pre-interviewing four more applicants before scheduling full interviews.

The city will also consider opening the position up as a job-share, where two individuals split the workload.

Full-interviews will be conducted by a panel of city management staff and council members.

“It’s not typical that we would involve the council panel to conduct a department head-like interview, but in this case the relationship between the council and the city attorney is unique,” Schulze said.

“I think it’s very important to get that input from the council.”

The council panel will consist of councilmen Wayne Roth and Steve Bonkowski and either Roger Townsend or Val Tollefson.