Spalding County Board of Commissioners Chairman Eddie Goss said more than half of the candidates for the job of Spalding County Manager have been eliminated.

“A couple of months ago, I met with our Personnel Director (Bill) Gay,” he said.

There were a total of 43 applications for the county manager position. Goss and Gay eliminated 10 of them that meeting.

Two weeks later, Goss and Gay eliminated another 10 applications. As the list got narrower and finding applicants to eliminate became more difficult, Spalding County Board of Commissioners Vice Chairwoman Gwen Flowers-Taylor joined the discussion.

“That was about four or five more,” he said.

Since then, scheduling additional meetings have proven problematic. In a Thursday interview, he said he hoped to meet on Friday or sometime this week.

“We are not getting into a hurry to find a new manager,” he said.

He wants to hire the county manager once and right. He said Interim County Manager Tim Whalen and Interim Assistant County Manager Virginia Martin are doing a good job and the county has a lot of confidence in their skills.