A public reception is planned Friday at City Hall.

Four finalists for Bainbridge Island city administrator will be on hand this week, to meet with elected officials and the public.

“We’re not looking at anybody who hasn’t had a good number of years of experience, in some interesting communities,” Mayor Darlene Kordonowy said.

The four – two hailing from Washington, two from Oregon – were winnowed from 126 applicants. The process was coordinated by the Prothman Company, an executive search firm specializing in public sector recruitment.

Members of the public can meet the candidates at a reception at 6 p.m. Friday in the council chambers at City Hall.

Finalists include:

• Christopher Jordan is currently the assistant city manager in Lake Oswego, Ore. He has 18 years of public sector experience including nine years in the executive office of the president in Washington, D.C. He is a graduate of Cornell University.

• Mary Jo Briggs is currently the city administrator for the city of Fairview, Ore. She has 20 years of public service experience including the position of deputy city manager for the city of Vancouver, Wash., where she also served as interim city manager, budget director, assistant director of public works and interim operations manager. In 2001, she was the principal in a consulting firm specializing in management consulting, leadership development and facilitation. She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Nebraska.

• Michael Patterson is currently the city administrator for the city of College Place, Wash., and has 10 years of public sector experience. He earned a bachelor’s degree at Gonzaga University and an MPA from Easter Washington University.

• David O’Leary, recently the city administrator for Lake Stevens, Wash., has 12 years experience in public service including one year as a county commissioner in Idaho. He has previously held the positions of city administrator, planning and zoning administrator, budget director and public information officer. He earned a bachelor’s degree and MPA from Boise State University.

The candidates will undergo round-robin interviews Saturday, with the mayor, council members, a citizen committee, and city department heads and employees’ union representatives.

Candidates will also lunch together and tour the island. Several of the finalists have already visited the Bainbridge community and sat in on City Council meetings.

Kordonowy said she was intrigued that several finalists have past experience in cities with a council/manager form of government, in which a manager works directly for the council.

“Prothman (Company) certainly earned their contract amount,” Kordonowy said.

The Bainbridge Island city administrator post has been vacant since Lynn Nordby was forced into retirement by the City Council last year.