By Courtney L. Anderson
SHARON — Twenty-six people from 14 states have applied to be Sharon’s city manager.
Sharon council President Mike Donato Monday night updated folks at a council meeting about how the search is going.
Candidates for the job are from all over the country, including Alaska, California, Florida, Connecticut, two from Montana and several from Pennsylvania and Ohio, Donato said.
He said the home rule transition committee has narrowed the applicants to 11 that they want to hear more from. Donato said he and committee President Ed Palanski had already contacted five and plan to call six more today. Four of the first five are still interested in the job, Donato said.
When asked if the city has some “good candidates” for the city’s first manager, Donato said, “We think we do.”
“They’re experienced,” added council member Victor Heutsche.
Donato said no one has been eliminated from the search but after the committee as a whole evaluated resumes the 11 in question “deserved to be taken seriously.”
No one local made the first shortened list, Donato said. The closest candidate lives somewhere in Ohio, he said.
Council hopes to hire someone by October, Donato said. The new manager will replace Mayor Bob Lucas when his term is up at the end of the year under the home rule charter approved by the voters in November 2007
Over the next few weeks the committee plans to narrow the field through in-person or phone interviews and then bring the top candidates to town to meet staff and citizens and see the town, he said.
The next committee meeting is at 6 p.m. Monday at the Community Library of the Shenango Valley.
People have until June 30 to apply for the job. Information about the position is posted on the city’s Web site at www.cityofsharon.net
