INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. — The process to hire the Incline Village General Improvement District’s new leader became more streamlined this week.

District trustees voted 3-1 Wednesday to have the six general manager candidates be interviewed by only two panels next month — the board itself, and a nine-member group of IVGID senior staff.

The finalists — Keven Burnett, Tom Masterson, Rosemary Menard, Steven J. Pinkerton, Eric Severance and Kirk J. Wooldridge — will no longer be polled by a third “peer panel” of regional business managers and government officials.

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Trustee Jim Hammerel proposed that panel be axed, and that trustees get feedback on their own from residents and officials to aid in their public interviews, to which trustees Jim Smith and Joe Wolfe agreed.

Trustee Bill Devine was absent Wednesday. Board chairman Bruce Simonian voted against.

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“It would be a great opportunity for these … professional leaders … to vet the candidates,” Simonian said after the meeting when asked why he voted “nay.” “Sure, it’s just advisory, but their opinions would be an integral part of the process.”

The following regional leaders were asked to participate in the peer panel:

• Mike Brown, chief of the North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District

• Lynn Gillette, president of Sierra Nevada College

• Claudia Andersen, CEO of the Parasol Tahoe Community Foundation

• Richard Solbrig, general manager of the South Tahoe Public Utility District

• Fred Findlen, general manager of the Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe

• Stephen Mokrohisky, Douglas County Manager

As of Wednesday,  Mokrohisky and Gillette had accepted, IVGID Interim General Manager Joe Pomroy said, while Brown and Andersen declined. The other two were undecided.

Some residents Wednesday also suggested the board do away with the senior staff panel.

“(Senior staff) work for the general manager … they should have no part in saying who that person is,” said former IVGID Trustee Gene Brockman. “That’s your job as trustees, and your job only.”

Simonian said senior staff’s knowledge is valuable because they spend 40 hours or more a week with the GM, where as trustees only spend 20.

“These aren’t lower-level employees … they’re senior staff, and if they are aware of things going on that are incongruent … I would like to know about it,” he said after the meeting.

Moving forward, the finalists still will take part in an all-day public Q-and-A session on Monday, Dec. 2, Pomroy said.

While an agenda is being developed, it’s expected to include statements and questions before both panels and an evening social reception allowing residents to speak one-on-one with the candidates.