Luzerne County Council appoints seven to manager search committee

Luzerne County’s search for a new manager will now commence because council appointed a seven-member citizen committee that must seek and recommend applicants.

A council majority selected the following citizens for the committee Tuesday night: Chris Hackett, Sherri Homanko, Rick Morelli, Brian D. O’Donnell, Patrick Patte, Alec Ryncavage and Ray Wendolowski.

Fourteen residents had publicly interviewed for the volunteer post.

The others who were not nominated or failed to secure six required council votes: Angelo P. Grasso Jr., George F. Hayden, John Magagna, Walter S. Mitchell Jr., Patrick Musto, Michael Reich and Jeffrey Rockman.

While council ultimately hires the manager, the county’s home rule charter required the outside committee to “recommend the candidates it believes are the most qualified.” Charter drafters asserted the involvement of an independent committee at the start of the process would make the selection more impartial and less vulnerable to political intervention.

Council also voted Tuesday to earmark $5,000 for the committee to perform its work.

Other council decisions related to the search committee must be decided at a future meeting, including the salary range that should be advertised for the next manager, the required job qualifications, the amount of time applicants will be given to apply and the number of finalists the committee should present to council.

It took the last manager search committee four months to formulate a plan and receive and screen applications, which means council may not be interviewing candidates for the position vacated by C. David Pedri until December. Lame duck concerns related to new council members taking office in January could push a decision into 2022 regardless.