Luzerne County Council will hold a special meeting at 5 p.m. Tuesday to vote on the hiring of a new top manager, council Chairman Kendra Radle said Thursday.
A council majority had removed a vote on the manager from this week’s meeting at the urging of Councilman Brian Thornton.
Thornton said he had been inundated with information and wanted to perform more research before making a decision.
Three finalists are under consideration: Romilda Crocamo, David W. Johnston and Randy Robertson. Crocamo has been serving as acting county manager since prior manager C. David Pedri’s resignation took effect July 6.
Allowing a vote to proceed this week also would have risked a 6-5 vote, with no finalist securing the seven votes required to hire a manager under the county’s home rule charter, Thornton had said.
Radle said all council members have been bombarded with information for and against applicants — including some communications containing false and defamatory allegations.
She said council should not continue to put off making a decision, even if it means council must start from scratch and ask the outside citizen search committee to reactivate a new search for additional applicants.
The volunteer citizen manager search committee already provided council with all the finalists that it deemed the most qualified, which means additional advertising would be required to yield additional applicants. The committee, required by home rule, had started meeting in August. If council wants more applicants, council would have to determine if the committee is willing to continue or whether new members must be publicly sought.
The meeting will be at the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre. Instructions for a remote attendance option will be posted under council’s online meeting section at luzernecounty.org.