The other finalists are Sean McBride, the chief information officer for the city of Tucson, Az., Brian Murphy, the village administrator of Plainfield, Ill., and Jane Bais-DiSessa, Berkley, Mich. city manager.

Council members previously requested more time during Tuesday night’s work session to examine and evaluate the biographies of each of the nine semifinalists after spending about an hour reviewing the information presented for each semifinalist.

Executive search firm Affion Public previously narrowed down a list of 56 total applicants to the nine semifinalists, which it presented to the council Tuesday night.

Each of the finalists is scheduled to be invited back to East Lansing to participate in a community reception Jan. 25 and a series of round-robin interviews with panels of city staff on Jan. 26.

The council hopes to select a new city manager from the list before the end of January.

Debate was spirited among council members regarding the process of selecting the actual finalists, with council members eventually deciding to select only candidates who received no opposition from the council.

Councilmember Don Power said he had a difficult time reading through all of the information pertaining to each applicant in one day, let alone during Tuesday night’s work session.

He added simply voting on a name, versus conducting an in-depth discussion on the merits of candidates, was not an effective means of selecting finalists.

“If there is a difference between how one (council member) presents it, I’m sorry,” Power said. “I’m doing the job as it should be done. … I want to make certain we’ve met our obligation.”

Among the list of finalists, Affion Public CEO Scott Reilly previously said Lahanas has a strong body of work behind him, including his current tenure as interim city manager.

Lahanas said he appreciates the opportunity to move forward in the selection process.

“I’ve also appreciated the opportunity to serve as interim city manager,” he said after the meeting.

During the meeting, Mayor Diane Goddeeris said Bais-DiSessa is an ideal candidate to move forward to the council’s next selection round, citing Bais-DiSessa’s fiscal knowledge and experience in working with diverse communities.

Bais-DiSessa is a native of Texas and a past president of the International Hispanic Network.

“She has been a city manager in 3 different communities (in Michigan),” Goddeeris said. “She’s well aware of the Michigan struggles. She brings at least a very good knowledge of how to manage the budget with that.”