Dozens apply for city manager job

Kalispell has received at least 44 applications for its open city manager position and will now start narrowing down the field of candidates to call for an interview.

“We still would be accepting them if they were postmarked on the 13th, so we may have a couple more show up. But right now we’re at 44,” Human Resources Director Terry Mitton said on Tuesday.

Applications for the city manager position have come in from around the country, Mitton said.

A selection committee appointed by Mayor Tammi Fisher already has met several times to review applications.

The committee meets again on Monday to start comparing and ranking them using a qualification matrix developed by the city’s human resources department.

Over the next couple of weeks, the goal is to narrow the field down to three to five candidates who would be called in for phone or Skype interviews with the City Council and mayor.

Fisher has said she wants see a permanent city manager on the job by May.

Former City Manager Jane Howington left the first week of January to take an identical job in Newport, R.I., having announced her intention to resign in November.

Kalispell’s plan to hire retiring Helena city attorney David Nielsen as interim city manager fell apart that same week when Nielsen withdrew from the job after learning that he would not be eligible to draw his state pension while working for the city.

Since then, Kalispell City Attorney Charles Harball has been filling in as acting city manager.

The last time the city manager position was open in 2009, about 60 applications came in for the job, Mitton said.

Reporter Tom Lotshaw may be reached at 758-4483 or by email at tlotshaw@dailyinterlake.com.