(KAIR)--A chance to meet the four candidates vying for the role of Atchison City Manager.

That happened Thursday evening during a mix and mingle reception at the Atchison Event Center, hosted by the City of Atchison.

Local business and civic leaders, among others, had a chance to talk first hand with all four in a casual setting.

Atchison City Mayor Allen Reavis tells MSC News the event was the latest step in the hiring process, with additional steps to be taken during the day Friday. "The candidates [Friday] will continue their tours of all the city departments, meet with all the department heads. They take turn at the end doing a SWOT analyisis, in other words, Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. They have one hour to write an analyis of their views of the city, not just the city but the region, and how it affects the county and the entire region. They turn that in, they have an interview, we spend an hour with them. At the end of those four interviews, the Commissioners will meet for, oh, I don't know, 45-minutes or an hour, and kind of dicsuss the candidates a little bit as far as our views."

Reavis says once Friday's interview process concludes, the Commission will assess their findings, including feedback on all four candidates from those who met with them during the mix and mingle reception, prior to extending a contract offer to the candidate chosen to be the next city manager. "We'll then probably take a week or ten days to review everything. We're going to get some feedback from the mix and mingle, from the emails from everybody, and just try to weigh it all out and then we'll make our decision in March as to who to offer the position to."

Vying for the vacant city manager's seat are Becky Berger, the current Finance Director for the City, who is currently serving as interim City Manager;

Matt Rehder, the current City Administrator for the City of Seneca;

John Hollenbeck, a native of Effingham, who currently resides in California, where he owns an engineering company;

and Jonathan Roberts, the current City Administrator of Spring Hill, Kansas.