OKEECHOBEE — Nineteen applications for the position of city clerk were received by the October 9 deadline, and 16 of those were deemed complete. The applications were scored by three city staff members according to a rubric developed based on the job description. Copies of the resumes and scores were provided to the city council members prior to the Oct. 20 meeting.

During the meeting, the council was asked when and how they would like to conduct interviews and how many of the candidates they wanted to bring in. The council agreed they would like to handle the process similarly to the way they did when they hired the city administrator.

One specific item brought up by City Administrator Denise Whitehead was that one of the candidates is Heather Prince, who is the city’s Human Resource director. She explained that they did not have her review of any of the applications, and she was not a part of the scoring process. However, she was consulted on procedural questions.

Council members were asked to submit questions to Jacqueline Boer, executive assistant to the city administrator, by Friday, Oct. 30. The interviews of the candidates will take place on Nov. 5 at 9 a.m.

The council will be interviewing the top four candidates based on the scoring by the staff. The candidates are Katie Rogers, who is the Deputy City Clerk under Lane Gamiotea, Leanne L. Lalonde, Heather Prince, who is the city’s HR director and is former deputy clerk under Gamiotea, and Kateri Johnson.