WASILLA -- When Wasilla Mayor Sarah Palin dismissed deputy administrator John Cramer last month she said that Cramer was let go so the next administration could have a smooth transition when the next mayor takes control after Tuesday's election.

Whether or not there will be a smooth transition remains to be seen, but the fact that Wasilla even has a deputy administrator raises questions for Wasilla's mayoral candidates. Specifically, who would they hire as their right hand if elected, or would they consider doing away with the position?

Wasilla's charter grants broad powers to an elected mayor, which makes it a rare animal among local Alaskan governments. Besides the deputy administrator, there are seven other employees who serve at the pleasure of the mayor. They include the mayor's administrative assistant and department heads such as the police chief, city planner, public works director, finance director, library director and -- perhaps least clearly defined -- "economic development planner." That last one is a position Palin left unfilled at times, but which is currently occupied by former Matanuska-Susitna Borough manager Don Moore. Moore is assigned the task of in-house project manager for Wasilla's $14.7 million sports arena project. This brings up another question for the candidates. What's next for the position once Moore's task is complete?

"They keep inventing positions, and I don't know how they're able to do that -- whether it's the current administration or the previous administration, they've kept inventing positions," mayoral candidate Cliff Silvers said.

Silvers is running against city council member Dianne Keller, Mat-Su Borough assembly representative Dan Kelly and former Matanuska Telephone Association executive Faye Palin.

"Economic Development planner seems to be a fancy title and we'll have to see if that's necessary or not," he said.

But Silvers does have one thing in common with the other candidates. When asked, he refused to say who he had in mind for the deputy administrator position or discuss specifics of the management structure he had in mind. All four mayoral candidates said they wouldn't make predictions about their administration until they had meetings with Wasilla's five department heads.

"That's really an unknown until you get in the door and see what's going on," Silvers said.

Assembly Representative Dan Kelly came the closest to naming a deputy administrator.

"I have someone in mind and I'm not going to disclose his name right now, but he's very qualified to help me run my administration," Kelly said. When asked, Kelly said the person he had in mind had no government experience, but when asked if his man had business experience Kelly said, "Yes, very much so."

The transition period will likely define the Kelly administration should he win.

"We will discuss the positions and the financing. I'm not going to start discharging and firing people," Kelly said.

As for a post-sports arena economic development planner, Kelly won't say whether that would be a part of his administration or not.

"It's already in the budget and we'll see about cutting the budget once we get in there, but I don't want any employee to be in fear for their job," he said.

Faye Palin pointed out that the job of deputy administrator could be done away with entirely, depending on the new mayor.

"If whoever becomes mayor has strong administrative skills that position may not be necessary," Faye Palin said. "I've talked to a number of people inside the city as to how they thought things should be organized and certainly there are as many opinions as there are people to ask."

Palin and Keller both said they had no one in mind for the deputy administrator position, and both said they would put off a decision on that position until they met with the department heads. Both said department heads would report directly to the mayor's office regardless of whether or not they hired a deputy.

"The department heads are the ones who have been there mayor-in and mayor-out and they are the ones who can help you achieve your goals," Palin said.

Keller emphasized communication and group decision making.

"When you have a team of people working on a particular issue they'll make better decisions than just one person," Keller said.

Keller also said she thought the previous administration was correct in keeping the economic development planner position flexible and that she also supported Moore on the specific job of sports arena project manager.

"I think that some flexibility is nice, but Mr. Moore definitely would be employed under Dianne Keller," she said.