Bernadette Douglas, executive vice president of the Cleveland-Bradley Chamber of Commerce who holds a seat on the LTRO board, confirmed Friday night the 51 resumes included 24 seeking the director post, 13 hoping for case manager and the remaining 14 seeking either leadership position.
The last emailed resume was received at 3:53 p.m. Friday, and by shortly after 5 p.m. no additional applications had been received, Douglas said.
The LTRO board member, who is working closely with a Human Resources Committee, repeated past assertions that the field includes a large number of highly qualified candidates; however, she pointed out late Friday she had not thoroughly screened all the resumes. She was planning to complete that task over the weekend.
Members of the HR Committee will meet early this week to pare down the list to four or five candidates for the recovery director position. These names will be submitted to the full LTRO board Thursday at the group’s normal weekly meeting.
The slate of finalists will be contacted for personal interviews after the committee’s report to the full board. Douglas said LTRO members hope to have a recovery director named and in place by mid-July.
Selection of the case manager position will lag slightly behind because LTRO members want the recovery director to be involved in this selection, the Chamber leader explained. She didn’t offer a timetable for filling the case manager slot, though it is expected to occur quickly to allow the process to keep moving.
“We have to move quickly,” Douglas said.
Since its formation and endorsement by the Mayors’ Coalition, the LTRO board — which is chaired by Matt Carlson and Jake Stum — has adopted a practice of speedy but thorough progress in order to meet any unfulfilled needs of impacted Bradley County families, as well as to keep the wheels of recovery churning.
Early last week, only days after LTRO announced its plans to create the two paid, full-time positions, the response was immediate. LTRO members opted to allow only a week for applicant response, but resumes began filing in quickly and consistently. By Thursday afternoon, 34 resumes had been received. The number jumped to 38 by early Friday morning, and 13 more were submitted over the course of the final day.
The recovery leader’s salary will range from $40,000 to $50,000, depending on experience and qualifications. The case manager’s salary will pay from $25,000 to $35,000, but this amount is negotiable depending on the applicant’s qualifications and experience.
Salaries will be paid through grants and volunteer donations geared for the leadership positions.
Both positions are expected to span about two years, but this span is flexible depending on Bradley County’s recovery efforts needs. According to an LTRO Communications Committee news release, “Candidates for both positions must commit to serve for at least one year with the possibility of 24 months to ensure the mission is accomplished.”
However, subsequent published reports have indicated it could stretch to as long as 36 months.
“We have been forwarding the resumes to the [HR] committee as they arrive,” Douglas said. “The committee will meet early in the week to review the resumes [as a group] and then on Thursday we’ll present four or five finalists for the recovery director position to the full LTRO board.”
Because she had not personally reviewed each resume in detail by Friday night, Douglas could not provide a rough sketch on career classifications among the applicants, such as whether most are currently employed, unemployed or retired. She did confirm that it appeared many have current jobs and professional qualifications.
