EAST LONGMEADOW – Five residents have been chosen to help the town find its new permanent town manager. The Town Manager Screening Committee hosted its first meeting on Oct. 28.

Town Councilor Joseph Ford, who serves as chair of the screening committee, later told Reminder Publications between now and the committee’s next meeting on Nov. 4 members would review packets of pre-screened resumes for town manager candidates.

A list of members on the screening committee includes Anthony Gentile, Raymond Miller, Thomas O’Connor, Michael Harrington, and Frank Morrisino, Town Council President Kevin Manley said prior to the meeting. One of the members would serve as an alternate.

He noted the Edward J. Collins Jr. Center for Public Management at the University of Massachusetts Boston pre-screened the resumes for committee members.

“They’ll be tasked with reviewing those and then will come together as a group on [Nov. 4] and have a collaborative discussion about the people that we want to bring to the next phase of the process, which would be a face-to-face interview,” Ford explained.

The Nov. 4 meeting would take place in executive session in order for candidates to remain anonymous during the interview process, he said.

“We have to be very respectful of their privacy at this point,” Ford said. “They have applied to a public job, but once we make a final recommendation, I don’t know how many people that would be, but when the screening committee makes a final recommendation to the full board then those final interviews will be in open session.”

He added there is no deadline for recommending a list of final candidates to the Town Council, however he believes the screening committee would likely conclude its interview process shortly after Thanksgiving. A recommendation could be submitted to the Town Council in early December.

“We’re mindful of the holiday season coming up and the fact that this position was posted and closed at the end of September,” Ford said. “We want to make sure that the people who applied are still available and also we want to get to those top candidates as quickly as possible.”

Manley said he hopes one of the candidates would be offered the position before the end of the year.  

“That’s what our targeted completion date for the whole thing is – to have a permanent town manager assigned to begin Jan. 1,” he added. “And from talking to the Collins Center and working with the council, it seems like that’s well within the possible timeframe.”