City commissioners Sunday concluded a second day of closed-door interviews with the three finalists to become the community’s next city manager.

“We’ll be working to complete all the necessary steps in the hiring process before we make a job offer,” Mayor Mike Amyx said. “We’re going to be doing all the necessary background checks, and all the things you normally would do before you hire someone.”

The finalists, announced Saturday evening, are R. Leon Churchill Jr., managing director for Reading, Pa.; David Corliss, Lawrence’s interim city manager; and Dennis Taylor, city manager of Eugene, Ore.

Amyx said Sunday he still hopes the commission will be in a position to make a job offer by early October.

More information about the two outside candidates also became available Sunday, showing that all three have ties to Lawrence and Kansas University.

Taylor, 60, received a bachelor’s degree from KU in 1968. He grew up in Topeka.

Prior to becoming city manager in Eugene in 2003, he led several cities in Montana as the top executive and had various administrative jobs in Montana state government, in addition to serving in the Marine Corps.

Taylor said Sunday that the Lawrence job had long been on his radar screen.

“I’ve always been attracted to the vitality of university communities and the young people,” Taylor said. “I’m really attracted to Lawrence and the University of Kansas. It has a great downtown and continues to maintain a great quality of life.

“Really, I’ve always wanted to be the Lawrence city manager, but in the past 30 some years, you have only had two city managers. This really was my first realistic opportunity to apply.”

Attempts to reach Churchill on Sunday were unsuccessful. According to a brief biography posted on an association Web site for city and county managers, Churchill is 44 years old.

Prior to becoming managing director of Reading in 2004, Churchill was town manager of Windsor, Conn., from 1999 to 2004 and an assistant city manager for Charlottesville, Va., from 1995 to 1998.

He’s a 1987 graduate of KU’s department of public administration. He received his undergraduate degree at the University of Virginia in 1984.

Corliss, 45, received his undergraduate degree, a master’s in public administration and a law degree from KU. He’s worked for the city since 1990 as assistant city manager, director of legal services and management analyst.

City commissioners are seeking a new city manager after Mike Wildgen ended his 16-year tenure by resigning in March.