43
Sharon to replace manager
By jeanne starmack
sharon, pa.
A little more than a year after the city’s new manager took office, the city expects to replace him.
Thomas Lavorini, 59, of Butler, has told the city council he will not move to the city, which has a residency requirement. He became city manager in November 2009 after the city moved from a council-mayor to a council-manager form of government under its new home-rule charter.
Council president Mike Donato said Friday that the council, which is interviewing new candidates, hopes to have the position filled by its December meeting. It hopes to vote in a new manager then, he said.
The city’s website indicates the position will pay “up to $70,000.” Lavorini makes $67,000, Donato said.
Donato said the council has interviewed “a few candidates” but does not have a short list. He said the city received between 25 and 30 applications from throughout the country.
Lavorini has agreed to stay on in the post until his replacement is chosen, Donato said.
Lavorini came to Sharon from a $90,000-a-year job as manager of Ross Township in Allegheny County. He was fired from that job by a 5-3 vote of the township commissioners in August 2008.
The president of the township’s board of commissioners, Daniel DeMarco, told The Vindicator last year that Lavorini was dismissed because the township was facing a deficit and there was a conflict between some commissioners and his management style.
He said Lavorini was replaced with the township’s former finance director. Donato told The Vindicator then that a search committee did background checks on Lavorini and was satisfied that his dismissal was due to politics.
He also told The Vindicator in June, after Lavorini said he wasn’t staying, that the city knew the residency requirement might be an issue. He said, though, that Lavorini was still the most-qualified applicant.