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City of Talent to choose three leaders By WENDY SIPOREN TALENT -- Three leadership positions will be filled tonight when the City Council meets to choose two new members and an interim city administrator. The council meets at 6:45 p.m. at City Hall, 204 E. Main St. The city has already interviewed one candidate to temporarily replace former city administrator Preston Polasek, who resigned last week after just seven weeks on the job. A second candidate for the short-term post will be interviewed today and a decision is expected tonight, said Mayor Marian Telerski. In the meantime, Police Chief C.W. Smith is filling in this week at City Hall. Telerski hopes the interim administrator will be able to start work next week for a five-to six-month position or "however long it takes to go through the whole process again." The city was able to find qualified interim administrator candidates through the League of Oregon Cities, which maintains a list for these types of emergencies. The City Council may turn again to help from the group when it begins the search for a permanent city administrator. Both the League of Oregon Cities and the Rogue Valley Council of Governments offer candidate search services to towns for a fee. The council is also expected to select members for the search committee tonight. Telerski said that committee will review the city's hiring process and decide whether to seek outside assistance. One option would be to create a peer review board that would help screen applicants and make a hiring recommendation to the council, she said. When Polasek was hired, the council conducted the search itself, with the help of a community review board. The board, however, was not part of the final discussion and hiring decision -- something Telerski says she would like to change. The council faces another difficult decision tonight when it chooses between seven applicants for two open spots on the council. Out of 13 people who applied for the vacancies, eight showed up for interviews Aug. 4 and then one applicant withdrew. The remaining applicants are: Albert Abravanel, Cheryl Callaway, Rose Ditsworth, Emil Donato, Alan Koebrick, Joi Riley and Doug Turner. Both new council members will have to run again in the November 2000 election. Position four will be a full four-year term and position one will be a two-year term. Also tonight, the public will have an opportunity to comment on the city's new open space element of the comprehensive plan. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA