If you have what it takes to manage a borough, the Jim Thorpe Borough Council may be your friend in Pennsylvania.

"The best trait the ideal candidate would have would be their public relations skills and how well they can manage individuals," explained Jim Thorpe Borough Council President Justin Yaich. "The manager will be a liaison between the borough council, the administration team, the police department, the water department, and the public sewer department. He or she will have to bring all these together and will have to be the go-to guy.""In January, the administration committee established the criteria," said Yaich. "We wanted someone with a minimum of a four-year degree and preferably two-plus years of municipal experience, or in exchange, we would waive the four-year degree for eight-plus years of municipal experience."This is not Jim Thorpe Borough's first attempt to work with a borough manager."An ordinance was drafted in the 1990s and the borough hired a manager," he noted. "It didn't work out. The manager left within the first year, and the position was not refilled."The borough council found that over the past two years, the amount of projects that it had taken on were requiring council members to put in up to 30 hours a week supervising the projects."It got to a point where we all realized that we were getting burned out," Yaich said. "We can't go to work 40 hours a week, and then put another 20 to 30 hours in for the borough. It's not that we don't want to, it's almost impossible to try to juggle everything."To keep things on track and make sure we are not missing opportunities, and to make sure the residents are getting the right service requires that we get someone here on a full-time basis."Jim Thorpe Borough Council was unanimous in that it move forward with the search."Everyone's in agreement that we need someone in place," he said. "The money is budgeted, although we all wonder if the economy is going to turn around, or are we going to see reduced revenue next year."Jim Thorpe finances its budget from an earned income tax and real estate revenue - plus water, sewer and garbage fees.Additional monies for capital projects come from grants."We are looking for grant writing experience," Yaich said. "We were fortunate over the last four years to receive a substantial amount of money in the borough. The state budget has been restricted, so grants are going to be few and far between. We are going to have to be competitive."The borough manager will be overseeing an operating budget of $4 million plus budgets for capital improvements. The major capital project underway is the $1.2 million replacement of the 1,700 water meters in the borough."I think the biggest savings will be in overall efficiency," Yaich noted. "Someone keeping everything in line will see ways to save money."I want to see someone who is a team player. We also need someone with some skill in public relations," said Yaich."It's in motion if we get the right applicant," he added.