Luzerne County Acting Manager Romilda Crocamo presents information to council at the courthouse Tuesday as part of its public interviews of three finalists for the permanent county manager position, with Council members Kevin Lescavage, at left, and Gregory Wolovich Jr. observing.
Jennifer Learn-Andes | Times Leader
In her public job interview Tuesday, Romilda Crocamo told Luzerne County Council her work as acting county manager since the start of July has demonstrated she has the “exact qualities and characteristics” it is seeking in a permanent manager.
Crocamo said she has deftly run the county for eight months, navigating “more than (her) fair share” of inherited crises, including the state Attorney General’s immediate filing of criminal charges against prior Children and Youth director Joanne Van Saun, a new wave of coronavirus cases, an understaffed information technology department and a “hobbled elections department fraught with challenges.”
“Any of these crises standing alone would be a difficult task to manage, but I have overcome and continue to contain all of them,” she said.
Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the county’s management team was a key factor in her success addressing these problems, she said.
Although outside manager applicants may “look attractive on paper,” there is no substitute for actual experience in county government, particularly as it relates to Luzerne County, she maintained.
“Unlike someone you might seek to hire from outside, I am keenly familiar with the opportunities and challenges that each of the county’s divisions face,” Crocamo said, noting she already has taken some “needed steps to prune staff.”
Crocamo said the manager’s job is “conducted under a microscope,” and she urged everyone to look back at each challenge she faced and recognize her ability to “maintain control under pressure” and work effectively with people, even those who disagree with her. She also said she understands politics “without being political.”
Her interest in the job runs deep, she said, because she grew up in the county, has family and loved ones here and always considered it her home, even when she left for a period to attend college and work in New York City.
“It’s the county of my heart,” she said.
She has a bachelor’s and master’s degree from New York University and earned her law degree and a master’s of law degree from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York.
Crocamo previously worked at two New York City law firms and as managing attorney at the Barbara J. Hart Justice Center in Scranton before starting county employment in 2010. She worked as a master of county juvenile delinquency and dependency court and then as a law clerk for county Court of Common Pleas Judge Tina Polachek Gartley.
In July 2016, she was hired as chief county solicitor to oversee the county’s law division. This division works intimately with all other county departments, which she says exposed her to their intricacies. She also took credit for implementing and enforcing strict, uniform employment practices to reduce the county’s liability insurance exposure and litigation.
Crocamo said she also had to deal with emergencies as chief solicitor, including the death of a prison guard and inmate from an elevator malfunction at the prison, suicide deaths at the prison and a federal investigation over a seasonal worker tearing up military ballots.
She shared a story about a waitress she encountered at lunch this week who introduced herself and thanked Crocamo for helping her adopt her son when Crocamo was a court hearing officer.
“Whether you vote for me to become permanent manager, my time here in Luzerne County was well spent,” Crocamo said.
Questioned about the budget, Crocamo said she presented a no-tax-hike budget for 2022. She said she has been working with division heads to implement cost-cutting efficiencies attempting to avoid future tax increases, in part by revamping the way the county buys goods and services.
On the topic of Children and Youth, Crocamo said she was strongly affected by Van Saun’s guilty plea related to her failure to investigate at least 217 reports alleging child abuse and neglect in 2017. Stabilizing the agency will require time and effort, she said.
“There’s a lot of skin on this onion that we have to peel away,” she said.
The staff remaining at the agency cares about children and families, she said. Like many Children and Youth departments statewide, the one here struggles to attract employees for high-stress caseworker jobs, she said, noting she has talked to state representatives about the need to work with counties on addressing issues.
Regarding job vacancies, Crocamo said the county has stepped up efforts to attract applicants through job fairs and social media. Compensation is an issue because many private-sector employers are offering higher pay for jobs with less responsibility, she said.
The county has been highlighting the county’s competitive benefits package in advertisements, but she said the changing workforce is more interested in sufficient pay to cover mortgages, vehicles and gas.
Under her plans, each division will develop long-term strategic proposals that will undergo progress reviews every 30 to 60 days.
She said she is working on seeking more council input. For example, she will be briefing council on pending union contracts to obtain feedback while negotiations are still underway instead of the past approach of presenting contracts when they are “basically finalized.”
Crocamo also said she will be scheduling council tours of all county-owned roads and an expansion project at the county-owned Wyoming Valley Airport in Forty Fort. Town halls about roads and bridges in various parts of the county also are among her plans, she said.
Councilwoman LeeAnn McDermott said Crocamo had assured council she did not want the permanent manager position when she had applied for the interim position and asked why she changed her mind.
Crocamo said she decided she wants to remain actively involved in implementing changes, saying it is “really an exciting time” with new economic development coming to the region and an infusion of federal investment in projects that will impact the next generation.
“We are on the threshold of surging a Luzerne County that could become the gold star in Pennsylvania,” Crocamo said.
Council publicly interviewed manager finalist Randy Robertson on Monday and is set to interview the remaining finalist David W. Johnston at 5 p.m. on Wednesday at the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre. Instructions to attend the meeting remotely are posted under council’s online meetings link at luzernecounty.org. Council plans to vote on the manager hiring at its March 22 meeting.
Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.
