The screening committee will include city manager Tim Hansley, Mayor Mitch O'Brien, Pickerington City Council President Pro Tempore Jeff Fix, service manager Ed Drobina, planning and zoning commission chairman Doug Blake and two outside engineers currently under contract with the city.

The process is expected to streamline the list of hopefuls to 10 or fewer so city council can fill the position by June or July, according to Hansley.

"We'll meet as a group to try to weed out some candidates and so we all can agree on a consensus top 10," Hansley said. "We'd like to send somewhere between five and 10 names for council to consider."

The city has set the city engineer's pay scale at $80,000 to $92,000. Officials hope the in-house post will reduce Pickerington's annual costs for engineering services -- which always have been contracted to outside firms -- by $57,500 to $95,000.

Currently, the city has a month-to-month contract for engineering services with W. E. Stilson Consulting Group. In 2008, the city paid the firm a retainer fee of $9,600 a month, or $115,200 for the year.

Through January, the city paid W.E. Stilson $4,940.

The city had hoped to attract upwards of 40 applicants for the position, but Hansley said he's satisfied with the pool.

"We thought because of the economy we might get 30 or 40, but actually 20 to 25 is easier to manager," he said. "We have some real qualified candidates on the list, so we're happy."

Applicants for the position are:

• Gregory Bachman, former Summit County engineer.

• Douglas Bender, senior traffic engineer for Columbus-based M.S. Consultants.

• Thomas Boren, regional engineer for Weyerhaeuser Co., Columbus.

• James Breitinger, senior project manager for HDR Engineering Inc., Columbus.

• Vikram Dogra, an engineer for Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc., Florida operations.

• Mark Eicher, owner and engineer for Zanesville-based Eicher Engineering & Consulting.

• Vicki Green, adjunct professor of civil engineering at Ohio University.

• Hans Gucker, senior project manager for Advanced Civil Design Inc., Gahanna.

• Gerald Hetterscheidt, former site development project manager for Advanced Civil Design.

• Shawn Higgins, former project and office manager for Cuoco & Cormier Engineering Associates Inc., Tewksbury, Mass.

• Mark Hunter, project manager and lead engineer for CH2M Hill, Dayton.

• Paul Junk, former senior engineer and surveyor for Columbus Engineering Consultants Inc.

• Kurt Lape, former civil engineer for Lockwood, Lanier, Mathias & Noland Inc., Lancaster.

• Roman Lojas, seasonal construction inspector, city of Columbus.

• Richard Mark, assistant engineer and supervisor, city of Lancaster.

• Clark Merdes, former city engineer, North Royalton, Ohio.

• Bipin Pancholy, former structural engineer for LJB Inc., Kettering, Ohio.

• Joanna Pinkerton, project engineer for new infrastructure and development for Union County.

• Richard Reinhold, project manager and supervisor, Columbus Division of Sewage and Drainage.

• Robert Schutz, senior staff engineer and technical instructor for International Code Council, Whittier, Calif.

• Andrea Shannon, senior project engineer in the division of design services, Resource International Inc., Columbus.

• David Siegert, former project manager and engineer, Bayer & Becker Inc., Fort Mitchell, Ky.

• Michael Smith, civil engineer and land surveyor, village of Jamestown, Ohio.

• Vaughn Wilson, former highway management administrator, Ohio Department of Transportation.

• John Wirtz, traffic engineer, Chicago Department of Transportation.

• Marion Worley, engineer, Star Consultants Inc., Columbus.

Two additional individuals applied for the post but withdrew their candidacies after ThisWeek Pickerington requested their resumes.

nellis@thisweeknews.com