The Bainbridge Island City Council will quickly move behind closed doors after the start of their upcoming retreat.

The two-day council gathering starts with a four-hour session beginning at 5 p.m. Saturday, July 21 at city hall and continues with a seven-hour session on Sunday, July 22 in the education center at Bloedel Reserve.

After the start of the retreat Saturday, the council will move into an executive session that’s closed to the public.

Council members will meet for 45 minutes to talk about candidates for the city manager’s job, and pick semi-finalists for further review.

The council is expected to get a presentation on the applicant pool, but won’t review the detailed resumes or submittal packages that have been received.

Ron Holifield and Tom Muehlenbeck from Strategic Government Resources, the Texas-based company conducting the search for a new city manager, have told council members that the plan is to “narrow the field” to a group of quarterfinalists for the job based on a high level review and recommendations from Strategic Government Resources.

In a July 12 email to Councilwoman Anne Blair, Holifield said the process that’s planned would allow to city to find “real contenders” for the manager’s job.

“The group of quarterfinalists who are still standing will be asked to submit a questionnaire, and we will prepare comprehensive briefing books for the council at that stage to review in detail,” Holifield said in his email. “This is the most efficient way to have council see and engage in the entire field but then to eliminate all of those except the real contenders allowing council to devote more focused attention on the serious contenders.”

Three main objectives have been set for the retreat: to form a strategic vision for the city; to develop expectations for the new city manager; and to identify issues within the council that need to be resolved before the new city manager comes on board.

The city’s strategic vision will involve the biennial budget for 2013 and 2014.

Each council member has completed a “Team Dimensions” online test to gauge their leadership styles. Strategic Government Resources will use that information to determine how each council member operates as a leader, with the hope that such information will help the council learn how to work together.

The retreat will be held from 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday, July 21 in the council chambers and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, July 22 at the Bloedel Reserve.