Council to Interview Finalists for Post

The City Council will interview four candidates for the vacant city administrator’s position today and could announce its decision at Monday’s council meeting, said Howard Miura, interim city administrator.

The council at its biweekly meeting will also hold a public hearing on the city’s proposed $13-million budget for fiscal year 1998-99.

After the hearing, the council could make any adjustments to the budget deemed necessary or adopt the spending plan, Miura said.

In June, the council narrowed from eight to four the field of candidates vying for the city administrator position, the city’s top nonelective post.

Council members have said they seek an administrator with experience in economic development who can work well with the city’s diverse population.

Miura, also director of the Community Development and Planning Department, became interim city administrator in July 1997 after longtime administrator Mary Strenn resigned in a move that was supported, and some said orchestrated, by Mayor Raul Godinez II and Councilmen Silverio Robledo and Jose Hernandez.

Council members Joanne Baltierrez and Doude Wysbeek opposed Strenn’s resignation. All agreed thereafter on hiring criteria for the new city administrator.

The council meets at 7 p.m., the first and third Monday of each month, in its chambers at 117 Macneil St.