SEQUIM — The city may well have a new manager in January 2009, but only after the City Council wrestles its way through a web of choices.

Tonight, the Sequim City Council will meet in closed session to narrow down a field of nine city manager candidates; then it will decide when  to bring the three or four finalists to town for a public reception and a full day of interviews.

Mayor Laura Dubois has said the candidates will visit Sequim on Oct. 24-25 or Nov. 7-8.

Activities will start on the Friday night with a two-hour reception for city residents to meet the finalists at the Transit Center, 190 W. Cedar St.

The candidates will spend the Saturday talking with three panels: the seven-member City Council, five city department heads and a committee of community members.

If one candidate rises to the top, Dubois said, the council will start hiring negotiations the following Sunday.

The new boss will walk into a financially strapped city, to work with a council that will have just finished agonizing over how to hold on to city staff and maintain services in 2009.