Luzerne County Manager Randy Robertson said Wednesday he wants to recommend nominees for three top division head openings to council at its July 26 meeting.
Under the county’s home rule charter, council must confirm division head nominees for appointments to take effect.
Applications are due Monday for chief solicitor and overseers of the administrative and operational services divisions.
Robertson said he informed department managers in the three divisions that he won’t be appointing new temporary interim division heads. Two of the most recent interim appointments have expired, and the third will run out next week.
The charter limits temporary appointments to 90 days, and Robertson has said relying on a changing series of overseers has “exacerbated some challenges.”
Instead, Robertson said managers will each run their own departments and consult him as needed to provide overall guidance. While he already is working long days, Robertson said he will make the time to assist managers because he does not believe it makes sense to appoint another round of interim overseers when permanent division heads may soon be on board.
Robertson said he has been meeting with community stakeholders to seek their assistance in promoting the county division head vacancies to other professionals in their networks.
He also expanded to a nationwide search through the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and other resources.
Although he upped the maximum salary to $99,500 for all three positions, Robertson said it’s possible that may not be enough to attract out-of-area applicants, particularly within the short time period. He said he will fully support highly qualified local applicants but wants to take all steps possible to “see who is out there.”
“We’ll see what happens,” Robertson said, adding that he understands the “extreme sense of urgency” in assembling a complete top leadership team as soon as possible.
Information on the division head positions and other county openings is posted under the human resources department “career opportunities” section at luzernecounty.org.
The county has eight division head positions under home rule.
The head of administrative services oversees eight departments: elections, human resources, purchasing/acquisition, information technology, GIS/mapping, licensing/permits, community development and tourism.
The operational services division head oversees engineering, roads and bridges, planning and zoning, 911, emergency management, buildings and grounds, the boiler plant and solid waste management.
The chief solicitor manages the county’s law division, which includes the conflict counsel department.