During a special Kirkland City Council Meeting on Tuesday, May 4 the council voted to interview five of 15 recommended candidates for the Kirkland City Manager position.

Executive search consultant Bob Murray, of Bob Murray and Associates, who conducted the search for applicants for the position began the meeting by addressing the council and giving some back ground on the process.

Murray said that the city received 98 applications for the position.

“It is an unusually large number of candidates,” said Murray.”Quite frankly this is a very deep group in terms of the quality of the candidates. Having received those resumes I went through all of them as a result I identified a smaller group of 15 people that I think were the most qualified of those that applied given the criteria that you as a council established for the city manager.”

Murray then interviewed all 15 candidates for the city council and presented them with information on all the candidates.

“I think you have very good candidates from which to select a new city manager,” said Murray.

The council adjourned to an Executive Session in the Rose Hill room, where they discussed each of the 15 applicants’ qualifications.

The Council then returned to the Council Chambers and had a series of votes to decide which candidates would be interviewed by the city council. Those votes dropped the number of applicants from 15 to just five.