After the Albert Lea City Council reviewed candidates for the vacant city manager position, Albert Lea will invite four finalists for interviews later this month.

While the decision was made at a public meeting, state law protects the identity of applicants until they are selected for interviews. At this point, their identities become public information.

Interim City Manager Jerry Gabrielatos did not release the names of the four finalists selected for interviews by the city. Names and bios for each of the candidates are to be provided Tuesday.

Third Ward Councilor Jason Howland said he was happy with the pool of candidates, and that the four chosen were the best of the bunch. He is looking for a city manager who is fair, upfront, honest, can manage a big staff without micromanaging, is willing to delegate and has experience with economic development, finance and lobbying — among other items on a long checklist.

“I think out of those four, I think we’re gonna find our next city manager,” Howland said.

For Mayor Vern Rasmussen Jr., the biggest thing is to find a city manager who can continue to “guide our ship” as well as someone who is able to tackle the city’s projects, such as the Blazing Star Landing area and developing businesses, he said.

While Gary Weiers, management consultant for David Drown Associates — whose company, DDA Human Resources, is performing the search for Albert Lea’s city manager — screened and selected the top 10 candidates, one withdrew and the City Council considered nine.

“We cannot make a bigger decision than this, end of story,” Vern Rasmussen Jr. said of selecting the new city manager. “… We can vote on all the policies we want, all the budgets we want to make, all that kind of stuff. Reality is, this one person is gonna make or break all those things.”

First Ward Councilor Rich Murray said he hoped the candidates would have more experience behind them.

“We in this community really need to work on our housing, on economic development and, you know, running the city like we had the city manager doing is a big, big job,” Murray said.

He said he wanted to be sure the council was touching on those areas, as well as on job growth. He expects the interview process to be telling, he said.

“Those will be questions that I’m gonna drill down into just to get a better feel for those types of issues,” Murray said.

Second Ward Councilor Larry Baker said while the candidates are moving into a bigger community and role, it is natural that the most ambitious people want to move up and try something bigger and better.

Fifth Ward Councilor Robert Rasmussen said he wants a city manager with a combination of education and experience, but also someone who is “hungry” and has the drive to move forward in Albert Lea.

The four finalists will be interviewed over two days. The first day will include a meet and greet, where community members will have an opportunity to meet the candidates and ask questions. Weier said the City Council can also solicit feedback from community members.

Vern Rasmussen Jr. said having the community involved has worked well in the past and he would like to do so again.

Also on the first day, candidates will interview with city department heads, from which Weier said the council can take comments on how well the candidate will fit and what their strengths are.

While Weier said City Council members could receive that feedback ahead of the council’s interview with candidates, Howland said he would like to receive the feedback afterward. Sixth Ward Councilor Al “Minnow” Brooks agreed, as he said he did not want to have an opinion on the candidates before walking into the interview.

Candidates will also receive a tour of the city.

The finalists will go before the full City Council for a more formal interview on the second day.

Upon suggestion from Baker, the second day will also include short interviews with paired City Council members prior to the full council interview.

Interviews are expected to occur July 17 and 18.

The city will provide one night of lodging for finalists, as approved by the City Council.

In selecting their top candidates, all councilors mentioned one candidate, and two of the other candidates were mentioned by a majority of council members. The final candidate selected for interviews was listed by two councilors, but ranked highly for both.

Prior to the meeting, the City Council members reviewed a resume, cover letter, personality index and video interview for each of the candidates.

Howland encouraged community members to attend the meet and greet with the city manager finalists.

“I think it’s really important to get the community’s perspective on these candidates,” he said. “… I encourage whoever in the city who is interested to please come and meet the candidates and let us know what you think of them, because that’s important.”