Three Luzerne County manager applicants will be forwarded to county council for its consideration, the manager search committee decided Monday.
The committee wrapped up its in-person interviews of four finalists Monday and chose to recommend three to council, which must perform its own review before making the final hiring decision, said committee member Rick Morelli.
Committee members whittled down their recommendation to three as part of “an ongoing process and another level of due diligence,” Morelli said.
Committee Chairman Chris Hackett verified the committee met Monday and reached a decision on forwarding applicants but said the committee as a whole would leave it up to council to publicly discuss specifics on the number of applicants and any future release of names.
Council Chairwoman Kendra Radle said she spoke to Hackett on Monday night and was informed the committee will be recommending three applicants to council Tuesday.
“We will evaluate them and choose the best one,” Radle said, reiterating that the selection decision could be the most important facing council so far this year.
Morelli said the committee’s work is now concluded unless council members want feedback or other information from committee members.
He said he has confidence in all three recommended applicants and believes they have more relevant governmental work experience than some that had been considered by the initial council when home rule took effect in 2012. Morelli was a home rule charter drafter and also served on council.
“No matter which candidate council chooses, Luzerne County will be in very good hands in the years to come,” Morelli said.
Under a proposed manager selection plan up for council adoption Tuesday, council will immediately forward the names it receives from the committee to the county’s human resources department to perform background checks.
The committee also will be asked to send council all supporting documentation on the recommended applicants, including their resumes, ranking categories and results of their outside personality assessments.
Council expects to receive the background check results on March 1, hold a closed-door executive session to review all documentation on March 3 and contact applicants March 4 to schedule in-person interviews to be conducted the week of March 14.
After council’s interviews are completed, council members plan to hold another executive session on March 21 to discuss the interviews and their rankings.
If all goes as planned, the hiring vote would be the next evening, March 22. Seven of 11 council votes — a majority plus one — are required to hire the manager.
Council also must decide the compensation. The position was advertised at up to $185,000, which is around the maximum allowable under the charter. Prior manager C. David Pedri had been receiving an annual compensation of $137,333 when he resigned to accept other employment in July.
Romilda Crocamo has been serving as acting county manager and has declined to say if she applied for the position out of respect for the committee’s decision to maintain confidentiality.
Council’s Tuesday meeting starts at 6 p.m. in the council meeting room at the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre. Instructions to attend the meeting remotely are posted under council’s online meetings link at luzernecounty.org.