Luzerne County Council set to vote on manager applicant travel request Tuesday

Luzerne County Council is set to vote Tuesday on the county manager search committee’s request for funding to bring out-of-area applicants here for interviews.

Council typically discusses matters at a work session first and votes at least two weeks later, but Councilman Stephen J. Urban said he requested a prompt vote because he supports the committee’s requested $10,000 allocation, including an estimated $6,000 for applicant travel and lodging.

Once the committee makes recommendations, council must perform its own independent evaluation of the applicants. Seven of 11 council votes — a majority plus one — are required to hire the manager.

“For me, it is a no-brainer for the committee to want to meet the applicants before making recommendations. That’s something you do at an executive level,” Urban said.

However, Urban does not agree with a committee suggestion to have council members interview the applicants the day after the committee while they are still here, calling that idea “nonsensical.”

“I don’t support a rush job,” Urban said.

Council members need time to review and rank the recommended applicants and agree on an interview plan while accommodating the schedules of all council members, he said. If the applicants are serious about the position, they should be willing to make a second trip here at a later date, Urban said.

“There’s no way we can digest the information to do interviews within 24 hours,” Urban said.

Council Vice Chairman John Lombardo and Councilman Kevin Lescavage expressed similar views on both points — yes to the travel request and no to a swift council interview.

Lombardo said he originally was not in favor of providing the committee additional funding for in-person applicant interviews but now agrees with some colleagues who believe it is a good idea.

Regarding council’s own review of the applicants, Lombardo said he does not “see a need to try to run this through as quickly as possible.”

Council is set to fill a council seat vacated by Walter Griffith’s county controller win, and the new person also should have time to “sit down and take an objective look at the manager applicants,” Lombardo said.

“We need time to do our due diligence,” Lombardo said.

Lescavage said he agrees the committee should meet candidates face-to-face before recommending.

Council will need weeks to select someone and synchronize schedules for its own in-depth interviews, he said.

The search committee had suggested bringing in out-of-town candidates on Feb. 20, interviewing them Feb. 21 and then deciding on its final recommendations to council that evening, according to the committee’s agenda submission to council. It also asked council to be prepared to interview the candidates on Feb. 22.

Round-trip flights would be approximately $2,150, it said.

The committee would ask applicants to spend their Sunday arrival day to “experience our community,” it said.

Based on initial interviews, the committee has narrowed down its pool to five applicants — one local and four from out of the area.

Committee members have said they are not comfortable recommending the highest-ranked applicants without meeting them face-to-face.

“It is the only way we can fully discharge our responsibilities of recommending qualified candidates for your consideration,” the committee’s agenda submission said. “We are committed to ensuring council has the best candidates and complete information in selecting the next executive leader of our county.”

Committee member Rick Morelli was the lone dissenter, saying he believes the committee can obtain enough information on whether applicants are qualified in a second remote interview, if necessary, and leave it up to council to conduct in-person interviews.

County council is scheduled to discuss the county manager interview timeline at its work session Tuesday, which follows the 6 p.m. voting meeting at the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre.