A short list of the top 18 city manager candidates was sent to Marathon City Council members Friday, and staff will begin calling those included to discuss details of the job.

Interim City Manager Peter Rosasco released the list that was compiled from separate lists submitted by each of the council members earlier this week. The top 18 were either among the top two picks of one or more council members, or made the top 15 on multiple council members' lists.

The candidates list isn't ranked and doesn't indicate favorites, according to Rosasco, but is a first step to starting background checks and discussing contracts and benefits with candidates in advance of a Jan. 11 meeting about the position.

"We'll determine which ones are interested in coming for an interview," Rosasco said. "We'll discuss at that meeting who to bring down."

At least one council member doesn't think sitting on the short list until the Jan. 11 meeting is a good idea.

"I wouldn't mind seeing a special call meeting before the first of the year to discuss how we should proceed with this and get a little public input into the hiring process," Councilman Pete Worthington said. "I don't want to see this go for a vote to pick the city manager on Jan. 11. That's what was wrong with the last process. We need to get these people down here."

The last process ended in hiring Clyde Burnett, who resigned amid harassment allegations in October. Burnett, the Key Colony Beach mayor at the time, was hired without the city conducting top-candidate interviews.

Councilman Dick Ramsay said staying local in the search for the next city manager will be key to finding someone who can be effective immediately.

"There is a major advantage to knowing the area," Ramsay said. "I'm satisfied with most of the list. A couple of names surprised me."

Though the list of candidates Rosasco dispersed isn't ranked, it is broken down into categories and indicates how many council members included particular candidates on their lists. Only one candidate -- Lake Wales City Manager Anthony Otte -- was among the top two of at least one council member and included on the lists of each of the five council members. Otte was in the top five of every council member.

Longwood City Administrator John Drago was selected as the second or third choice of every council member except Ramsay. Marathon Planning Director George Garrett was the top pick for both Ramsay and Vice Mayor Mike Cinque, and the fifth choice of Mayor Ginger Snead. He was not on Councilman Richard Keating's or Worthington's lists. Former Marathon City Manager Mike Puto was Ramsay's second pick, absent from Snead's list and eight or lower on the other three lists.

Noticeably absent from the list are former Marathon City Manager Scott Janke and former Monroe County Administrator Tom Willi, who both left their former positions under a cloud. Janke most recently was fired from his position as city manager of Fort Myers Beach when the town's governing board learned of his wife's occupation as an adult film star.

The Monroe County Commission terminated Willi's contract in December 2007, 10 months before it expired. The county gave him a $282,354 severance package, but Willi has been receiving unemployment benefits on the county's dime. The county is appealing, and the case is currently before a state administrative hearing officer.

mphelps@keysnews.com