Minturn Mayor Earle Bidez, on Wednesday, detailed the progress being made in one of the most important hiring decisions the town has had to make in years as it seeks a new town manager.

Following the departure of Michelle Metteer, the previous town manager who resigned in February, the town hired the executive recruitment firm of KRW Associates to help with the hiring procedure.

KRW has narrowed its search to 28 candidates, Bidez said, and will issue its top recommendations to the Town Council this week. The council will then review those recommendations and narrow the field down to eight to 10 candidates on Wednesday in an executive session meeting.

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“The next process is KRW will videotape interviews of the remaining candidates and send those to us, and then we will go through those and widdle it down to four finalists,” Bidez said.

Those finalists will then be invited to town for a community meet and greet, which Bidez described as “a big social affair.”

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Formal interviews will take place the next day, with two panels interviewing the candidates. The Town Council will comprise the first panel, and the second is expected to include professionals from other nearby organizations like Eagle County Manager Jeff Shroll, Chris Romer from the Vail Valley Foundation and a representative from the Minturn Community Fund, Bidez said.

From there, the council must, by law, engage in a cooling-off period, not announcing a decision for at least two weeks. Then the candidate will be offered the job and a contract needs to be negotiated, which can take time.

“If that negotiation fails, then we go to No. 2, and so forth and so on,” Bidez said.

Then the candidate will announce their departure from their current position, working out a hire date in Minturn.

The April 30 to May 2 time period has been floated as a potential for the community meet and greet and interview process, Bidez said, but those dates can’t be finalized until the process is narrowed down further.

“Once we have the four finalists in, that’s when we’ll know when the firm dates will be,” he said.

Metteer had been the town manager for the last seven years and had been employed as a town of Minturn professional since 2009. In December, she accepted the position of city administrator in Ouray, and her last day in Minturn was Feb. 7.

Metteer guided the town through difficult issues involving ongoing water restrictions and a major lawsuit with the current owners of the long-contemplated Battle Mountain development. On Wednesday, the moratorium on new water taps, which had been renewed for the last four years under Metteer was codified into law, acknowledging the difficult situation Metteer helped navigate while in Minturn.

“I am proud of the accomplishments we have made together, and I am confident that Minturn will continue to thrive in the future,” she said.

The Town Council has appointed Katie Sickles to serve in an interim role while the town manager hiring process continues, with Town Clerk Jay Brunvand overseeing staff and resident matters.