It’s the number of months that have passed since Selma began the search for a new town manager. It’s also the number of candidates town leaders are now considering to fill the post.

Behind closed doors last week, council members spent a couple of long nights getting to know the finalists seeking to replace former town manager Stan Farmer, who took a similar job in Horseshoe Bay, Texas. The meetings were the result of months of work by a private consultant hired to field and screen candidates for the job.

Councilman Eric Sellers stressed that he and his colleagues on the Town Council were looking for specific qualities in each of the finalists. Among those qualities, he said, was strong customer service. “We want to find a person who understands that the citizens are the ones we’re elected to serve and who will treat them with respect,” Sellers said. “After all, the town manager is really going to be the face of the town for a lot of people.”

Sellers also said the Town Council was looking for someone with experience managing a town and someone with planning experience. Selma has lacked a planning department since 2006, when a financial crisis forced the town to reduce the staff at Town Hall from 100 to 69.

The lack of town planners has drawn criticism from residents, including those who complained in June about the town’s lack of preparedness in discussing issues like extending Selma’s planning jurisdiction. “I think we all agree that Selma is in need of a lot of planning,” Sellers said. “So that’s big for us.”

Although Sellers did not discuss details about individual candidates vying for the job, he did say town leaders had reached some consensus on who appeared most qualified. “I think there certainly has been some consensus over who we liked and who we kind of didn’t,” he said. “So I think we’re in a good position now to do some selective hiring. We’re not at a point where we’re ready to make any offers, but we are at a point where we have a pecking order.”

The next step, Sellers said, would be for the town to continue working with Bill Wilders, the consultant, to check each of the candidates’ references. Sellers didn’t dismiss the idea that Selma could hire a new manager within the next few months, but he declined to offer a target date

“We certainly want to be expeditious,” he said. “But we don’t want to rush things. When you rush things, that’s when you risk settling for someone who’s not great, but is just OK.”