Instead of choosing a new city administrator Saturday, the Austin City Council has decided to meet at 4:30 p.m. Thursday to pick a candidate.

“We talked about picking earlier, but we haven’t really gotten any feedback from the community,” Mayor Tom Stiehm said.

Stiehm and the council interviewed interview Kandis Hanson, Andrew Morris, Pat Oman and Steve Wilke Saturday afternoon for the vacant city admin position, which has gone unfilled since the council fired former administrator Jim Hurm last December.

The four candidates toured Austin, met with community members and spoke with city staff on Friday. They met several city leaders and went through interviews throughout the day Saturday.

Council members hope to gather input from other staff and community members before they make a choice. Yet there’s a chance the council could choose to withhold a job offer and restart the search process.

“I’d love to have another discussion to see if we’re going to go with any of them,” Council Member Jeff Austin told the council.

Stiehm said he would be surprised if the council didn’t choose a candidate on Thursday.

“I don’t think we can do any better than this,” he said.

Council Member Jeremy Carolan was absent from the interviews Saturday.

Morris has been city manager for Moberly, Missouri, since 2007. Oman is the city administrator for Moose Lake, Minnesota. He took the job in 2013. Wilke has been the city manager of Lake Mills, Wisconsin, since 2000. anson is the city manager in Mound, Minnesota. She took that job in 2000.