Luzerne County received five more applications for the top manager position by Friday — the last day to apply — bringing the total preliminary count to 11.

Additional applications may come in because the deadline for mailed or emailed submissions was midnight Friday, members of the citizen manager search committee said during a Friday night meeting at the county courthouse in Wilkes-Barre.

Required by home rule, the committee must recommend three manager finalists to the council, which makes the final hiring selection.

Several citizens have urged the committee to consider re-advertising the position if committee members conclude they did not receive a sufficient number of applicants.

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Committee members said Friday they will proceed as planned but stressed they would only recommend finalists if they have full confidence they would excel in the post.

The committee agreed to postpone discussion on what would happen if it does not identify three highly qualified finalists until after the resumes have been reviewed.

The five committee members finalized their plan Friday to uniformly rate the redacted resumes before determining which applicants will be interviewed.

For example, committee members will use a numbered scale categorizing the applicants’ qualification level in several areas, including leading change, business acumen and achieving results.

The committee will start rating and ranking the redacted applications in closed-door executive sessions Wednesday and Thursday.

The committee also agreed Friday to complete background checks on the three prospective finalists before a recommendation is submitted to the council.

The background checks will cost about $235 per person and include employment and educational verification, credit reports and drug testing.

Additional applications may arrive before committee recommends 3 finalists

By Jennifer Learn-Andes

jandes@timesleader.com

Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.