The names of

the three finalists to fill the city manager job in Peachtree City could

be made public this week.

The City Council

interviewed just three of seven hand-selected applicants in first-round

interviews last weekend at City Hall. Four others from the original field

of seven pulled out of consideration before the interview date was set.

Mayor Steve

Brown said the council intended to consider all seven applicants and then

whittle those down to three finalists to announce to the public.

He admitted

his favorite of the seven, on paper anyway, was one of those who withdrew.

But as it turns out, Brown said he and others on the council were generally

impressed with the remaining three hopefuls and there may not be a need

to interview additional applicants.

"I was

very happy with the way it went," he said. "If we think we don't

need to do any more interviews, then those three will be announced shortly."

Councilwoman

Annie McMenamin agreed. "If we got in there and didn't feel good

about any of them, we would advertise for more applicants," she said.

"(The applicants) had a good balance of skills. And we're trying

to get someone who can do just about everything."

Brown said

the four who removed themselves from consideration didn't do so because

of any negative perception of the job or the city. Two accepted positions

with other municipalities, another cited personal reasons and the fourth

decided to stay at a present job, Brown said.

The new city

manager will replace longtime adminstrator Jim Basinger, who resigned

in September when the council did not renew his contract. Colin Halterman

has been acting manager in the interim.

"Colin

has done an excellent job, but we are in desperate need to get somebody

in there fulltime," said McMenamin.

City Attorney

Ted Meeker said Open Records law requires that the council announce the

names of the three finalists at least 14 days before awarding the position.

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