Iowa City Council to meet on city manager search

The City Council is inching closer to selecting a new city manager for Iowa City.

The council will hold a special meeting, closed to the public, on Aug. 20 to discuss the search. The council has scheduled candidate interviews for Sept. 20, again in closed session.

It has tentatively set aside Sept. 27 to 29 for more interviews with candidates it wants to bring to Iowa City for public meet and greets.

Council members have said they'd like to hire a city manager this fall.

The council fired Michael Lombardo as city manager in April 2009. It then decided to wait until after that fall's council election to start the search for a replacement. Then it turned its attention to the city's budget for the first several weeks of this year.

Council members also said they were comfortable with longtime Assistant City Manager Dale Helling filling in.