I’m going to assign the Amarillo City Council a letter grade for its attempt to present five qualified city manager candidates seeking to become the individual chosen to manage City Hall’s complex government machinery.

That would be an “A.” For effort. The council brought the five individuals out tonight to a meet-and-greet reception at the Civic Center’s Heritage Room. My best guess on the number of folks who attended? About 120.

As for the community’s response to the council’s outreach effort, let’s lower our sights. I’ll give the rest of Amarillo a “C+.”

You see, I didn’t notice a lot of, oh, “regular folks” at tonight’s reception. I didn’t recognize any auto mechanics, grocery store clerks, shoe salespeople, fast-food restaurant managers, beef processing plant employees … well, you get the idea.

I did see some lawyers, some folks involved with local government in some form or fashion; I noticed one well-heeled residential and commercial developer; I shook the hands of some City Council candidates; I noticed one Potter County commissioner and another former county commissioner; and a retired college administrator.

My wish as I drove downtown tonight to attend this reception was to see a larger representation of the community at-large. Those who didn’t attend missed an interesting and engaging interaction with the five men the council is considering for the city manager’s job.

This is a huge deal, folks. The city manager will be asked — according to a friend who’s fairly familiar with the atmospherics at City Hall — to “fill a lot of holes.” A lot of key personnel have departed City Hall in recent months, given all the turmoil that’s erupted there — with the resignation of City Manager Jarrett Atkinson and several key senior staff associates and then the sudden departure just a few weeks ago of the interim manager, Terry Childers.

The next manager will have to oversee a budget of several hundred million dollars. He will have to manage the progress of downtown’s extreme makeover. He’ll have to figure out how to implement the expenditure of money to repair and rehabilitates streets.

The city manager will become the face and the voice of the city’s administration. He will have tremendous responsibility to serve a city of 200,000 souls who depend on the city to deliver services paid for with taxpayers’ money.

If only more of the community had come out tonight to get an up-close look at the men vying for this critical job.

The City Council is now faced with the kind of “headache” elected governing bodies always seek. It gets to choose from among five competent, experienced and seasoned municipal and county administrators.

A little birdie told me tonight the decision could come quickly.

I encouraged one of the council members tonight only to “choose well.” He smiled.