Peppered with questions from Austin city officials and council members, eight of 16 Austin residents were interviewed Tuesday night in hopes of being appointed to two vacant council seats.

The council will choose the new council members at a 6 p.m. meeting tonight.

One of the city's 1st Ward seats was held by Wayne Goodnature and was vacated when Goodnature defeated Dick Chaffee for the At-Large seat. The 3rd Ward seat was vacated when Dick Lang resigned after being elected to a Mower County commissioner seat.

Those interviewed Tuesday included Vaughn "Spud" Bothun, Gary Quednow, Paulette Anderson, Hazel Hines, Brian McAlister, Jean Hastings, Jeff Austin and Lynn Koch.

Those scheduled for interviews later today include Tom Neilon, Kay Johnson, Mary Keenan, Tracey Chamberlain, Rich Bergstrom, Georgette Hinkle, Mark Hecimovich and Jason Richard.

Bothun, who ran unsuccessfully against Mickey Jorgenson in November for the city's other 1st Ward council seat, said the council will have to show fiscal prudence in the coming year.

"We're going to have to sit back and not be gung-ho until we know what the budget is going to do," he said. "We have to be conservative."

Jorgenson captured two-thirds of the vote over Bothun in November's general election, but Bothun asked council members to "consider the fact that I went out and campaigned. A third of the people in the 1st Ward want me to be in some sort of governmental office."

Quednow agreed the city is going to have to make tough fiscal choices this coming year. One of his priorities, however, is to find a way that Austin's youth will continue to live here.

"We need to work real hard to keep people in Austin," he said. "We need to look for opportunities for them to stay here in town and raise their families."

Dan Fields can be reached at 434-2230 or by e-mail at dan.fields@austindailyherald.com