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Naples City Council narrowed its list of city manager candidates Monday.

The decision to invite six candidates to Naples for a 1½-day interview came only moments after council decided to recommend Naples Assistant City Manager Chet Hunt hold the city manager position in the interim.

Council spent a portion of its Monday workshop discussing who would lead the city following the departure of City Manager Bob Lee.

Lee’s last day is Friday.

When it comes to the short term, council voted 5-2 to recommend Hunt for the interim city manager position. Councilman Gary Price and Councilwoman Penny Taylor opposed the recommendation.

If council approves the recommendation Wednesday, Hunt will take over the day-to-day operations of the city next week.

Hunt has been with the city since November 2004. Prior to his 2007 promotion to assistant city manager, Hunt served as the manager of the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency.

Council is expected to formally appoint Hunt during Wednesday’s City Council meeting.

Hunt would only be at the helm for a few months, especially since council is quickly moving toward hiring a new city manager.

Thomas Freijo, vice president of the Mercer Group, gave council members instructions on how to proceed with city manager interviews, which begin next week. Freijo also recommended six candidates that should move to the interview round of the city manager search.

Marco Island City Manager Bill Moss and Cape Coral Assistant City Manager Hector Rivera will both be making the trip to Naples next week for interviews.

“I can tell you his reviews were rave,” Freijo said of Moss. “There have been controversies, but there is nothing (we found) to prohibit recommending him in all good faith.”

This is the first job Moss has applied for in his 10-year tenure as Marco Island city manager. Moss said last month he did not plan on looking for other jobs if he didn’t get the Naples city manager position.

Councilman John Sorey said he was initially leery of Rivera making it to the final six. Rivera is the only assistant city manager to make the cut.

“It’s up to council to decide,” Sorey said. “But he was one we put on (the list) to fill the Top 10.”

Rivera will only serve as Cape Coral’s assistant city manager until Jan. 1, regardless of whether he is hired in Naples. Earlier this year, Cape Coral officials voted to eliminate Rivera’s position due to budget constrains.

Freijo said that while Rivera has had a series of career ups and downs over the years, he came highly recommended.

“He is the consummate gentleman,” Freijo said. “I have met him and I can tell you he is very much the academic. He is always looking forward.”

The list also includes Peekskill, N.Y., City Manager Dan Fitzpatrick; Chatham, Mass. Town Manager Bill Hinchey; Sunrise City Manager Pat Salerno; and Isle of Palms, S.C., Chief Administrative Officer Linda Tucker.

Freijo said while his search performed detailed background checks on each of the candidates, that doesn’t mean they’ve been able to uncover everything.

“Every single city manager that I know deals with controversy,” he said.

Some of those controversies, though, did come up during background checks.

A check of Hinchey’s motor vehicle records showed that he was charged with reckless endangerment in an automobile, Freijo told council Monday. According to a 2002 article in the Cape Cod Chronicle, which Freijo provided in Hinchey’s background information, Hinchey was arrested after local police stopped him on Sept. 4, 2002, traveling 76 mph in a 40 mph zone. The article states that Hinchey failed two field sobriety tests.

Freijo said in recent discussions with the Chatham, Mass., council that members were hesitant to discuss the incident.

“They are strongly supportive of him,” Freijo said. “(They said) nothing that happened clouded his work. I made this recommendation based upon his performance as city manager.”

While background checks on Salerno came up negative, Naples City Council did ask Freijo about recent reports that Sunrise officials are in the process of renegotiating his contract.

But renegotiating his contract doesn’t necessarily mean more benefits for Salerno. In this case, it actually means less.

According to a Sept. 28 article in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the city’s deputy mayor has asked that the city renegotiate the contract to eliminate Salerno’s ability to roll over up to 890 hours of vacation time from year to year. The contract also does not cap the sick time he can accrue over the years.

The city currently owes Salerno more than $372,000 for the equivalent of 3,696 hours of vacation and sick time he’s accrued since 1991.

“I can tell you (Salerno) thinks like a business person,” Freijo said. “And he wants to protect his interests.”

Council, which will begin interviewing candidates Monday, will begin meeting with candidates at 8 a.m. Candidates will also meet with city officials, take a tour of the city and mingle with community members Monday.

Candidates meet with individual council members Tuesday, before council meets at 3 p.m. to deliberate and select a new city manager.