A little more than a year after they filled the spot of county manager, the Floyd County Commission is facing the task once again.

Officials said more than 50 applications for the job have been accepted and they are currently getting that number down in order to hold interviews.

“We’re very fortunate. We have quite a few very qualified candidates to choose from,” said Commissioner Garry Fricks, who was appointed to the selection committee along with Commissioner John Mayes.

The specifics of those candidates are not being released at this time, and Georgia law does not require it until the list is down to three or fewer candidates. Fricks said they have narrowed down the field to seven or eight possible selections. “We’ve got it to a workable number now,” he said. “We’ve studied the resumes a little bit further and we’ll get together to try to narrow it down some more.”

The board launched the process of hiring a new county manager after Blaine Williams left the slot this January to take a role as an assistant county manager for Athens-Clarke County.

Williams was Floyd County’s assistant county manager for five years before taking over as county manager on Jan. 1, 2012.

“It is frustrating. We hated to see that happen,” Fricks said. “But in this marketplace we have the potential to grow to a good point. There are opportunities to bring people here that could be very positive for Floyd County.”

Fricks said the list of applicants is very diverse and is made up of people who come from various parts of the country as well as locally.

“The hardest part will be getting accustomed to different leadership once the new person is determined,” Fricks said. “It will be an adjustment for the commissioners and the people of Floyd County as well but we’ll learn how to do that.”

Fricks said the next step would be to send some follow-up questions to the candidates still in the running and have them respond in order to get a final list for the interview process.