City council members have interviewed the first three candidates for the Flandreau city administrator position.

Council members spoke with each candidate by phone last week in 45-minute segments during an executive session closed to the public, said president Dan Sutton. After taking some time to process the information individually, the council was scheduled to talk about their choices in an executive session during Monday night’s regular council meeting. That process took place after the Enterprise deadline.

Sutton said the council will either decide to invite some candidates to Flandreau for another interview and visit, or start the process over if none of the candidates meet expectations.

The new administrator will replace Don Whitman, who has been with the city six years and will retire May 1.

The council narrowed the 11 applicants down to three finalists in February. While they have not named any candidates, council members have said they will allow the Flandreau Development Corporation a chance to meet the finalists and offer an opinion. The FDC had initially asked to be a part of the entire interview process because the group is hoping the person hired has economic development experience, but the council denied that request.

The candidates also will be allowed to meet city employees and possibly others, along with touring town.

The candidates are from all over the country, said Mayor Mark Bonrud, but none are local.