DUNEDIN — After more than a year, Dunedin officials are down to two finalists for the city manager position.

Former city manager Robert DiSpirito's forced resignation last year set in motion a nationwide search that at one point was stopped because the pool of applicants didn't produce candidates who were a good fit for the city. Interim city manager Doug Hutchens filled in, but he had no plans of staying permanently because he was close to retiring.

Today, there are two candidates, chosen from a pool of about 80 applicants after the search began again this year. S. Renee Narloch & Associates was paid about $22,000 and hired by the city to conduct the search. On Thursday, residents and city staff are scheduled to meet with Jennifer Bramley, from Coral Springs, and Kevin Cowper, from Auburn, Ala. Mayor Julie Ward Bujalski said the commission is set to pick one of them on Monday.

Whoever is chosen will be only the third city manager in the last 30 years, said Theresa Smalling, director of human resources. The salary will be negotiated once a person is picked, she said. DiSpirito's salary was about $154,000 when he left.

Bujalski said the event will give the community a chance to meet the candidates and give input to the City Commission.

"It's one of the most important decisions that we will make for the community," she said. "And we certainly don't want to settle."

Both Bramley and Cowper said they weren't concerned over the circumstances of DiSpirito's resignation — set off by a commissioner's failed motion to fire him — and said commissioners were honest about it.

On June 12, commissioners interviewed the finalists about issues they saw in Dunedin and how their experience qualifies them for the job. At the time, Jamie Croteau, from Boca Raton, was a third candidate, but after the daylong process that included one-on-one sessions with each commissioner, Croteau was ranked last out of the three and formally dropped out last week.

Before the interview with the commission, Bramley said she decided to spend the weekend in Dunedin to get to know the area. She also reviewed a survey sent out by S. Renee Narloch to residents to understand what residents and business owners would like to see.

As deputy city manager in Coral Springs, with an estimated population of 130,000, Bramley, 52, said she oversees public works as well as the city's community redevelopment agency and economic development initiative. She set up town hall meetings to get the community together with city departments and develop new ideas for projects, and took those a step further by implementing it into plans.

She said she believes she can bring this strategy to Dunedin, population about 35,000, particularly when it comes to keeping the balance between bringing development to the city while maintaining its character.

"It needs to be appropriate to the area," she said of development. If selected, she said it would be part of her goal.

She received her bachelor's degree in political science at Florida Atlantic University and began her professional career in 1990 as assistant city planner in Coral Springs. She eventually became chief city planner before working in Tamarac, a city south of Coral Springs. She later returned to Coral Springs, where she now works as deputy city manager.

Originally from Wisconsin, Bramley said she found the city manager position in Dunedin to be an opportunity to serve an area with high civic engagement.

"I'm really attracted to the environment and atmosphere of the city," she said.

Cowper, 53, grew up along the coast in Mobile, Ala. To him, Dunedin feels familiar.

"I feel right at home," he said. The interaction between the people, tourism and the beach allows the city to have the activities of a large metro city, he said, but contained within a small community.

In Auburn, part of what he does as assistant city manager is overseeing public works, environmental services and economic development. A city of an estimated 60,000, he has worked there for the past nine years. He received his undergraduate degree in geology and geography at the University of South Alabama and his master's degree in city and regional planning at the University of Memphis.

When applying for Dunedin's city manager, he said the city's high quality of life is what drew him.

Cowper said he sees the pilot paid parking program as a big issue the city is facing. If selected, he said he would like to see further studies to check if it is meeting intended goals.

He also sees development in the city as another opportunity for the city to grow, but added that he would also work to maintain the quality of life. He said he intends to be involved with the community as well as visible.

Cowper said he sees the city facing the issue of a rise of redevelopment and the need to make sure the past is preserved.

"This is a community that is on the move," he said. "It's a community where people want to be."