Chadron could have as many as 11 semifinalists for the job of city manager.

Mayor Mark Werner says that’s how many of the 29 applicants the city council will invite for video interviews, but he expects a third to a quarter of them to decline.

No names will be revealed until the council settles on the finalists, most likely 2 individuals, and in-person interviews are scheduled.

The council, with the exception of MIles Bannan, who is one of the applicants, met Tuesday in special session to review the scores from a matrix of 30 skills, traits, experience, and similar factors.

Werner says the full council, except for Bannan, filled out a matrix for each candidate on a 0-5 scale, as did City Clerk Donna Rust and Human Resources Director Bev Bartlett.

When the scores were compared, there was a natural break after the top 8 around 120, but Warner says 3 others who were bunched close together less than 10 points back were also included in the semifinalist pool.

All will have to the end of the week to respond with zoom interviews to be arranged next Wednesday-Friday for those who wish to remain candidates.

The interviews would be open public meetings if more than 2 council members took part, so Werner and Vice-Mayor Cheryl Welch will conduct the interviews along with Rust and Bartlett with councilmen Keith Crofutt and Joe Johndreau observing.

Mayor Werner was very impressed by the breadth and depth of the applicant pool. He says several are former city managers while the geographic spread of the candidates extended from Alaska to New York to Texas.

Greg Yanker resigned at the end of last year to return to the private sector and his career as an engineer, accepting a position with Fuller Construction in Chadron. Retired longtime Chadron Public Works Director Milo Rust is serving as Interim City Manager.