McKean County has received nearly 20 applications to fill the
role of human resource representative.

On Monday, Director of Legal Affairs and Human Resources Michele
Alfieri said an individual could be selected within a couple of
weeks, adding the county has also entered into an agreement with
J.L. Nick Associates Inc. of Erie to help with the creation of the
county’s human resources department.

Alfieri said officials would like to get the department up and
running by sometime in June.

“We are basically starting from scratch here to establish a
human resources department,” Alfieri said. “We are taking all the
pieces from someplace else and trying to put them all together in
one location.”

According to Alfieri, the applicants come from “all over the
place,” adding the county originally created the position and
advertised for it more than a year ago.

“The delay in the process all along has been a lack of office
space,” Alfieri said, noting the department will be located in the
former location of the public defender’s office on the first floor
of the courthouse.

The public defender and his staff are slated to relocate to the
former planning office on Wednesday, according to Alfieri; the
planning office is now at the Old County Home along U.S. Route
6.

“We originally hoped to have the office space available by the
start of May, but now we are looking at the beginning of June to
move in and get whoever we chose started,” Alfieri said.

Alfieri said the department will be comprised of just herself
and the new employee, who is slated to garner a salary of between
$25,000 and $30,000, depending on experience.

County Administrator Richard Casey said previously the salary is
in line with what other counties are paying for a similar job.
Alfieri will still be the director of human resources.

“The human resources person that will be hired will do a lot of
the day-to-day paperwork and assist employees with problems,”
Alfieri said. “We’ve got a big job ahead of us.”

Officials said it’s the first time the county has established
such a human resources position.

According to Alfieri, the department will receive help from the
commissioners and J.L. Nick to get its footing.

“They (J.L. Nick) will assist us in reviewing resumes and help
to give us some insight on the correct way things should be done,”
Alfieri said, noting the agency will also lend a hand in the
creation of a policy and procedure manual for county employees and
the development of a wage study.

“We will be looking to get a structure in place on how we’ll
move along with daily business,” Alfieri said.

Alfieri said funding for the firm was placed in the budget for
last year. How much the agency will be costing the county was not
immediately available.

J.L. Nick is also assisting the North Central Pennsylvania
Regional Planning and Development Commission in Ridgway in its
search for a new executive director following the departure of
former leader Ron Kuleck.

The county has created several new positions over the past few
years, including the high-profile hiring of Ray McMahon, the former
director of the Bradford Office of Economic and Community
Development, who now heads the county’s economic development
agency.

The county is also close to naming a director for the new Soil
and Water Conservation Department.