Bremerton City Council members said Mayor Patty Lent’s decision to hire a new financial services director was dropped in their laps only days before the scheduled confirmation.

The City Council deferred the appointment of Kitsap County Treasurer Barbara Stephenson as finance chief because they need more information and time to review her qualifications, council members said.

Stephenson was sought out by Lent in mid-December before former budget chief Andy Parks was fired on New Year’s Day. Her candidacy was announced Tuesday and her confirmation was scheduled for Wednesday’s council meeting, but council members said they did not know enough about Stephenson to make an informed choice.

Councilman Cecil McConnell said search committees composed of department heads and at least one councilmember typically interview top candidates and help make hiring decisions for such top-level posts. But instead, he found out about Lent’s selection of Stephenson the day before the council meeting.

“I think it could have been thought out a little more,” he said.

Council Vice President Will Maupin said that all he got was a description of the position before the council meeting.

“None of us on the council really had much information about her or her qualifications or anything,” he said of Stephenson, first elected to the post of county treasurer in 2002. Maupin added that the lack of a more deliberative process makes the confirmation decision more difficult. Maupin lost the mayor’s race to Lent by 69 votes.

Stephenson will make herself available to council members at their offices in the Norm Dicks Government Center on Friday. McConnell and Maupin said they probably wouldn’t meet with her, but Council President Nick Wofford said he and other council members would.

In addition to determining Stephenson’s qualifications to head financial services, the council must also approve her salary. The proposed starting salary is set at almost $123,000 – less than Parks’ salary of more than $132,000 at the post, according to the city’s Web site. But it will be an increase for Stephenson, who is paid just less than $108,000 as county treasurer, according to the county’s Web site.

The council will review Stephenson’s candidacy in a Wednesday study session and her confirmation will likely take place Jan. 20.