Luzerne County’s search for a new manager will now commence because council has 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 requires 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.
The new search committee must publicly advertise its meetings once they are scheduled.
Some background on the seven new search committee members:
• Hackett, of Kingston Township, owns several businesses, including OneSource Staffing Solutions and i2M in Mountain Top. He has a bachelor’s degree.
• Homanko, of Hazle Township, is a clinical pharmacist for Select Specialty Hospital in Danville. She has a bachelor’s degree in health sciences and a doctorate in pharmacy from Wilkes University.
• Morelli, of Sugarloaf Township, has a master’s degree in business administration and works as a software account manager. He served on the committee that drafted the home rule charter, the home rule transition committee and was a county councilman twice.
• O’Donnell, of Kingston Township, is an optometrist, managing member of New Era Eye Care in Shavertown and has operated a practice for more than 29 years.
• Patte, of Mountain Top, has a master’s degree in business administration and secondary certification in business education and social studies. He currently works as curriculum, instruction and assessment director in the Hazleton Area School District and also manages his family’s local restaurant.
• Ryncavage, Plymouth, is founder and CEO of Cybiot, a cybersecurity technology company in downtown Wilkes-Barre, and also is a borough councilman.
• Wendolowski, an attorney from Mountain Top, has practiced law in the county for more than 30 years, including work as the Wilkes-Barre Area School District solicitor.
The charter requires at least three search committee members. Council appointed five when a committee was last activated in 2015.
Proposals to reduce the committee to three or keep it at five did not receive majority council support.
Tuesday’s meeting was the first since county Acting Manager Romilda Crocamo enacted a mask mandate inside county buildings due to rising coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in the county.
The council meeting room at the courthouse in Wilkes-Barre had fewer occupants Tuesday because only six of the 11 council members attended in person. The remaining five council members, Crocamo, acting Chief Solicitor Vito DeLuca and other administrators attended remotely, communicating through an audio-equipped station with a screen set up in the meeting room.
Councilman Walter Griffith had said he will attend remotely because he refuses to be mandated to wear a mask by Crocamo.