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A dozen Luzerne County Democrats applied for a vacant county council seat by Friday’s deadline, including two former council members, according to an interview schedule.
Applicant Eileen Sorokas, a retired factory worker from Wilkes-Barre, served on county council from 2014 through 2017.
Former councilwoman Elaine Maddon Curry, of Butler Township, also applied. She served on council during the first two years of the home rule government structure in 2012 and 2013. Maddon Curry is active with the Hazleton Integration Project, a community-based effort that seeks to unite Hazleton residents with different cultures.
The other contenders:
• Patrick Bilbow
• Dominic J. Butchko
• Gene Camoni
• Martin Dartoe
• Hal Gabriel
• Michael Giamber
• James Kennedy
• Lois Komensky
• Bonnie Markowski
• Michael McGlynn
Council Chairman Tim McGinley said all applicants will provide details on their experience and qualifications at public interview sessions starting at 6 p.m. Monday and Tuesday at the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre.
The county did not release resumes and other documents submitted by applicants Friday. After consulting with the county law division, McGinley said the resume of the selected applicant will be publicly released.
Council members plan to fill the vacancy, which was created by Democrat Edward Brominski’s resignation, at their Feb. 12 meeting. The Democratic replacement will serve until Jan. 6, 2020.
Some of the applicants have been active in public posts or positions, based on a search of prior published reports.
Two are borough council members — Butchko in Forty Fort and McGlynn in Duryea.
Gabriel is the principal at Wilkes-Barre Area School District’s James M. Coughlin High School, and Bilbow is principal at the Pittston Area Middle School, according to the district websites.
Dartoe, a Wilkes-Barre Department of Public Works employee, recently received media coverage for helping to detain a suspect who was fleeing from state police following a traffic stop.
Camoni and Giamber served on the county’s citizen manager search committee in 2016.
Camoni has worked in the education field, including serving as superintendent at the Old Forge School District from 2000 to 2007.
Giamber is retired and worked as deputy chief of facilities and operations at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., from 1999 through 2000.
The public interview schedule for the applicants, according to an agenda released Friday night:
Monday: Gabriel, 6 p.m.; Camoni, 6:20 p.m.; Komensky, 6:40 p.m.; Sorokas, 7 p.m.; Markowski, 7:20 p.m.; Kennedy, 7:40 p.m.; Butchko, 8 p.m.; Giamber, 8:20 p.m.; and Bilbow, 8:40 p.m.
Tuesday: McGlynn, 6 p.m.; Maddon Curry, 6:20 p.m.; and Dartoe, 6:40 p.m.
This year voters will select six council members to take office in January 2020 and serve for four years. In addition to the seat that had been held by Brominski, the following council members are in the final year of their current terms: McGinley, Eugene Kelleher, Robert Schnee, Stephen A. Urban and Jane Walsh Waitkus.