After the Friday deadline, The Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors received nine applications to fill the vacant board attorney position.
The position became vacant after the death of longtime Board Attorney Jack Brown in February.
President of the Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors Orlando Trainer said he doesn't think the board envisioned having nine people interested in the position. He said the board was thinking it would receive three to four applicants.
"I am happy that we have that much interest, and I think all of them are capable of doing a great job and all of them bring a wealth of experience." Trainer said. "The sad part about it is, we can only select one, and so that makes it very difficult for the board to determine the best path forward trying to get down to that one."
Trainer said he expects each supervisor will look at the applications over the weekend to possibly narrow down the field, so they can focus on a smaller pool and make a selection in a reasonable time.
As for the selection process, Trainer said the board has not discussed how it will approach all nine of the applications.
"We might just decide to go through some type of elimination process," Trainer said.
Trainer suggested each Supervisor could rank the individual applicants and the three individuals who receive the highest score would be interviewed.
He said if the board does not agree with the ranking process, then the board would need to extend the meeting for each applicant to be interviewed. He said it would be a daunting task to thoroughly interview nine candidates and make a fair assessment in one sitting.
As for a decision, Trainer said he doesn't expect the board to make a final decision for the position on Monday, but there is always a possibility.
Here is the list of attorneys who submitted applications for the vacant board attorney position:
•Haley M. Brown
•Marty Haug
•Jay Hurdle
•Bennie Jones Jr.
•Benjamin D. Lang
•Chad Montgomery
•Johnny Moore
•Lydia Quarles
•Rob Roberson