When Carlsbad's longtime city manager, Ray Patchett, stepped down last fall, political insiders privately forecast that the city would have no trouble obtaining applicants. The conservative, upscale community is well known for being financially sound and politically stable, and its scenic coastal location doesn't hurt.

Alliance Resources Consulting of Long Beach was hired by the City Council in December at a cost of $25,000 to coordinate the search for a Patchett's replacement. The council named former assistant city manager Lisa Hildabrand to the interim role in September.

The consultants met with the council members to discuss what skills they want the next manager to have and have created a list of job attributes ranging from fiscal discipline to people skills, Abbott said.

"(The consultants) will probably interview about 15 to 25 applicants, and would come back with some recommendations to council," she said. "The council, of course, would have the final determination of who they're going to interview."

Those council interviews are expected to occur from mid-April to early May. The city hopes to have its new manager in place by the start of the fiscal year, July 1, Abbott said.

Oceanside took 15 months to find a new city manager, eventually hiring interim manager Peter Weiss last year. Also in 2007, Encinitas decided against an outside search and appointed Phil Cotton, the city's public works director, as its city manager.

When Carlsbad hired Patchett 20 years ago, it conducted an outside search. At the time, Patchett was the city's assistant city manager.

Patchett's ending annual salary was $220,683, the city's human resource department reports. Hildabrand is receiving $210,000 a year for her work as acting city manager.

While he is no longer the city's leader, Patchett still does some work for the city. He has said he expects to become a consultant on some city projects and teach part-time at San Diego State University.