The city of Maple Valley appears to be very close to hiring a city manager.

Five candidates were introduced the evening of March 5 during a forum at the Lake Wilderness Grill as one of the culminating events of an eight month search.

One of the candidates, James Mason, an economic development specialist for the city of Peoria, Ariz. has dropped out.

According to mayor Laure Iddings the City Council voted to allow her to make an offer to one of the candidates.

Iddings said if the candidate accepts the offer the council will have a contract to consider approving at its meeting Monday night.

Jerry Oldani, a consultant hired by the city to help with the search, said the candidate pool had been fairly large.

“These five applicants are the survivors of about 50,” Oldani said. “We have a lot of talent among these five gentlemen.”

The remaining four candidates are:

• Craig Whitehead was most recently served as the assistant city manager in Peoria, Ill. He earned a bachelor’s degree and master’s in public administration from Brigham Young University.

• Dan Wichmer is the city attorney for Springfield, Mo., where he has worked since 2005. He earned his law degree from University of Missouri.

• David Johnston served most recently as city administrator for Rantoul, Ill. He did his undergraduate work at Notre Dame and earned his MPA at Indiana University.

• Carter Napier also has an MPA from BYU and has worked as the city administrator for Riverton, Wyo., since 2003.