Lucerne District Manager vacancy announcement expected within a week

The announcement of the opening of the vacancy of the top manager of the Lucerne County government should be publicly announced within a week, the chairman of the search committee, Charles Schiandra, said on Wednesday.

The only solution left was compensation, which was to appear in an advertisement, and a committee of three citizens received feedback from the council on the matter during a working session on Tuesday.

After deliberating opinions, the council gave the committee the right to advertise as they saw fit.

Council chair Kendra Radle said Wednesday she doesn’t want to force the independent committee to delay ads while waiting for the council’s vote on the matter.

The council does not plan to meet again until February 28 and has asked the committee to attempt to publicly announce the vacancy and interview candidates with a view to sending recommended candidates to the council by the end of March.

The committee plans to advertise a range of $116,322 to $175,000, Skiandra said on Wednesday.

This minimum is ironclad because the county’s local government charter states that a manager must receive at least 55% of the DA’s compensation, but no more than DA. This year, the DA’s compensation is $211,495, which is $1,000 less than the state-approved salary for circuit court general court judges.

The committee shall seek, screen and interview candidates for the position of manager and recommend the most qualified candidates for consideration by the board. As a result, the announcement states that the final salary will be determined by the county council based on the qualifications and experience of the selected candidate.

The council allocated $145,000 for managers’ salaries in the 2023 budget.

For the search, which resulted in the hiring of previous manager Randy Robertson, a majority of board members voted for compensation of up to $185,000. Robertson ended up getting $181,500 a year.

Robertson’s predecessor, C. David Pedri, was hired for $120,000 and left with $137,333. Robert Lawton, the first manager hired under Home Rule, received $110,000 annually.

During a working meeting on Tuesday, the board initially discussed the idea of ​​emailing compensation feedback individually to the committee.

Board member Gregory S. Volovich, Jr. asked for a public comment, saying the committee now needed input from the entire body so it could start advertising the vacancy.

Search committee member Danielle Ader said she understands the board ultimately decides the final compensation, but the committee needs to know if the $145,000 budgeted ceiling is.

“If this is your compensation line, then we need to know that. If you’re ready to go further, then we need to know about it,” said Ader, a senior recruiter at a private consulting business.

A clear range needs to be advertised, she said, because this is a public position and potential candidates can do a simple online search to find out the compensation that has been paid to former managers.

Ader said the committee wants to “manage the expectations” of candidates before recommending candidates to the council.

“You can get the candidate you like, but in the end they might not accept your offer if they don’t like the compensation, and we don’t want to get to that,” Ader said.

Volovich said he thought the maximum amount was set too high in the latest search, leading some applicants to expect that they would receive that amount.

Council member Kevin Leskevage offered to advertise up to $180,000 with no minimum, saying the position comes with great responsibilities. He indicated that he did not want to “scare people away” by specifying a minimum.

Council member Brian Thornton said he felt $180,000 was too much, adding, “We made that mistake last time.”

“I didn’t say $180,000. I said up to $180,000,” Leskavage replied.

Councilor Carl Bienias III said he would have preferred to keep the maximum amount lower to lower expectations, and agreed to Thornton’s proposal for a $160,000 maximum.

Council vice chairman John Lombardo said the advertised numbers “are mostly numbers in the air”. Those who are recommended will have to demonstrate to the board that they are “worth the numbers they ask for,” he said.

Sciandra also asked the board to consider performance metrics that would give the selected candidate the ability to earn more than the final salary.

Radle said such incentives would have to be agreed later by the board and didn’t want to promise anything in the ad.

Sciandra said Wednesday that it will alert the council when the ad is posted on the county’s website and through the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and the Association of Pennsylvania County Commissioners (CCAP).

The committee plans to meet on March 1 to review the status of the applicant’s response at that time and strengthen the review process, he said.

Contact Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or tweet @TLJenLearnAndes.