Meaford will likely announce the municipality's new CAO this week, Mayor Francis Richardson said Thursday.

Council was to interview the third of three top candidates for a second time during a closed special council meeting Thursday afternoon, the mayor said.

The search for a CAO began in February, when then-CAO Frank Miele resigned after just over three years in Meaford, to move to the same CAO role in Gravenhurst.

Richardson said as many as 30 people applied for the municipality's chief administrative position, some from outside Ontario.

They were screened with the help of Evelyn Dean, a local human resources consultant, to narrow the field to a short list of 10 people.

Council cut that in half after telephone interviews, then interviewed five candidates and brought the top three back for subsequent interviews which were to wrap up Thursday, Richardson said.

No immediate announcement was expected after the meeting.

"I'm fully expecting that we should be able to make a decision and have it available for people next week," the mayor said.

"We had excellent candidates. We were very impressed with the selection. That's what's made it so difficult."

In February, Richardson said council would not rush the decision and promised the position would be filled by summer.

"We're still on track for that," he said.

All of council has been involved in interviews so they have held special council meetings, to meet terms of The Municipal Act, with council moving to closed session for the CAO interviews and related discussion, he said.

Meaford senior staff department heads shared the team leader responsibilities on a rotating basis since Miele's departure.

When he arrived in Meaford, the municipality faced a $3 million deficit after seven years without a tax increase. Miele and treasurer David Kennedy led the senior staff team to reorganize the municipality's finances and operations.

They developed a five-year financial plan, as well as a strategic plan and an evolving economic development strategy.

Richardson said there is no change to the status of key senior staff member Catherine Purcell, who remains on a paid leave.

Meaford's community services director and a member of the municipality's top management team, Purcell, 38, was arrested last month and later released after a bail hearing in Newmarket.

She faces York Regional Police charges of fraud over $5,000, uttering a forged document and breach of trust related to her previous employment in King Township, police have said.

Purcell, who lives in Collingwood, has worked for Meaford since last July. She is scheduled to make her first appearance after bail in Ontario Court of Justice on June 28.

bill.henry@sunmedia.ca