Tonganoxie City Council members have interviewed two candidates for the job of city administrator.

One candidate was interviewed Dec. 3, and the other on Monday both during executive sessions of the council. A third candidate withdrew his name from consideration, reportedly because he was given additional incentive to retain his current job.

“They’ve both very intelligent and they both have experience,” said Janet Angell, council president. “If I had to make a decision right now, I don’t think I could. They’re both very qualified. I like them both. I think it’s going to be a hard decision.”

Angell said no further executive sessions have been scheduled by the council to discuss the candidates. It’s possible, she said, one would occur during next Monday night’s city council meeting.

“We’d like to make a decision before Christmas, and that’s not very far away,” she said.

Originally, the city received 80 applicants for the administrator’s post, vacated last month when Chris Clark returned to Massachusetts, after serving about a year as Tonganoxie’s administrator. Council members interviewed seven applicants on the telephone before inviting three men to the city for personal interviews.

Angell, a council member for 10 years, said she believes the city would be well-served by either applicant.

“Every administrator we’ve had, I think, has been better than the one before,” she said. “We’ve learned a lot at least I have and this is the third one I’ve hired. In the past, we’ve had some very sharp guys.”

Angell is looking for intelligence in the next administrator. But she’s looking for something else, too. She wants the next administrator to understand small towns in the Midwest.

“Both of these men have experience as city administrators and they also are in this area,” she said.

“We want someone who is capable of doing budget and grants and capable of going down to Fourth Street and having coffee with the boys. That doesn’t mean there will be a lot of time for that, because there’s a lot of work. We are looking for someone with experience at being a city administrator and someone who has enough maturity and personality to bring back some PR to the city.”