Kalispell residents can meet the three finalists being considered for the city manager job at a reception Thursday and sit in as the finalists are interviewed by the Kalispell City Council on Friday.

The three finalists for the city’s top administrative job are Doug Russell of Yankton, S.D.; Tom Steele of Pleasant Grove, Utah; and John Sutherland Jr. of Santa Fe, N.M.

A city manager selection committee appointed by Mayor Tammi Fisher trimmed 44 applicants down to four finalists.

The fourth finalist withdrew from consideration because of a family emergency.

Russell, Steele and Sutherland will tour Kalispell and meet with city department heads and staff on Wednesday. They then will attend a public reception at the Conrad Mansion Museum on Thursday.

Sponsored by Glacier Bank and Sykes’ Market, the reception runs from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. It is open to the public.

The Kalispell City Council will interview the three finalists Friday.

Interviews are scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m. and expected to continue through 4 p.m. Held at Kalispell City Hall, the interviews are open to the public.

After the interviews, Kalispell City Council members may choose to meet in a closed session to decide if they want to offer the job to any of the finalists and authorize Mayor Fisher and City Attorney Charles Harball to try to negotiate a contract.

That decision could be reached Friday or early the following week, Harball said. He has filled in as interim city manager after the resignation of Jane Howington in January.

“Certainly by Monday they will probably want to get together and go back and forth. They’ll discuss it and certainly by the early part of the following week, Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, reach a consensus about putting out an offer,” Harball said.

Kalispell advertised the city manager job nationally and offered a salary range of $95,000 to $125,000 depending on qualifications.

Russell, Steele and Sutherland already have undergone background checks and are viable candidates, said Terry Mitton, Kalispell’s director of human resources.

Pinnacle Investigations in Spokane was hired to do the checks.

“You name it, they do it. Criminal background checks, driving records. This company is well-recognized around the country. A lot of government agencies use them,” Mitton said.

Mitton said he also researched the three finalists, calling people who worked with them but were not listed as references and reading online news articles about them. Information he compiled was passed along to the city manager selection committee and Kalispell City Council.

The three candidates will be profiled in Inter Lake stories beginning Monday.

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