By Trey Mewes and Jason Schoonover

The Austin City Council has picked its final four — city administrator candidates, that is.

The council voted on candidates Monday night for the city’s vacant administrator position.

After receiving 35 resumes, consultant Pat McGarvey and city staff narrowed the field to the top eight candidates, though one candidate withdrew.

The city plans to pay the potential administrator $120,000 to $130,000 a year, and McGarvey said the proposed salary was in the ballpark it needed to be, noting it may have been a problem if they hadn’t upped it earlier.

“I think it was a wise move, fair move, to put Austin in the playing field,” he said.

The name of all the candidates remained confidential Tuesday. The finalists names will become public after they are notified.

On Sept. 19 and 20, the candidates will visit Austin for interviews, to view the town and they’ll meet with the community at Austin Public Library on Friday.

Council members did have questions about candidates, as Jeff Austin admitted he has questions about the some of the candidates and noted the city has worked well without an administrator.

“We’re operating pretty well right now,” Austin said. “It seems like we’re getting things done that haven’t been getting done.”

McGarvey said they still don’t have to hire a candidate, even if they bring them in to tour the community. He referenced a similar search in the city of Des Moines. After a search, the top candidate turned down the position, and the council didn’t feel comfortable offering the position to the others.

Austin said he doesn’t want to scramble on someone who isn’t top notch.

“We’re not in a desperate situation,” Austin said.

Austin admitted he may be approaching it from a cynical background, but said he had reserves.

“I know what we’ve come from, and I don’t want to settle again and be in that position again where a year or two or three from now we’re looking at why did we hire this person?” Austin said.

However, Mayor Tom Stiehm said that was putting the cart before the horse, noting that if they get through the process and aren’t happy, they don’t have to hire one of the candidates.