The Dunedin City Council will not say how many applications it has received for the organisation's top job.
Instead, council staff, responding to Otago Daily Times requests, said the information would be released only after the new council was officially sworn in on October 29.
''Once councillors have been provided with the information, then we will supply it to you,'' was all council corporate services group manager Sandy Graham was prepared to say yesterday.
The refusal came after applications for the post - replacing outgoing chief executive Paul Orders - closed last Friday.
Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull, speaking on Tuesday, could not say how many applications had been received, but said there had been ''broad interest'' from candidates within New Zealand and overseas.
Council human resources staff did not return calls and staff working for the council's recruitment consultant, EQI Global, declined to comment.
In 2011, when the council was seeking to replace then-chief executive Jim Harland, details of the number of candidates - and where they were from - were divulged just days after the applications deadline passed.
At that time, council staff confirmed 47 applications had been received from across New Zealand and as far afield as Australia and the United Kingdom.
