A highly anticipated decision on the next Jim Thorpe borough manager will likely come at Monday's reorganization meeting.

Borough Council President Greg Strubinger said a meeting to take a vote was initially advertised for Thursday, but such action can't be taken between November's general election and January, when two new board members will be coming on board."After a diligent search, we are down to one candidate," Strubinger said Tuesday afternoon.He declined to say who that candidate is, noting he wanted to wait until the official meeting on Monday.According to the borough's initial advertisement, it was looking for someone with a "bachelor's degree in the field of management, public relations or related field, and a minimum of five years' municipal experience or an equivalent combination of education and experience."The successful candidate will have a strong executive/administrative background," the advertisement continued, "with experience in budget preparation, grant writing, personnel management, governmental accounting and project management."In Tuesday's Times News, Maggie Lukasevich placed a paid advertisement "thanking" council for not choosing her husband Chris, a 1980 Jim Thorpe Area High School graduate, for the job."I'm so thankful to borough council for not selecting the obvious choice in my biased opinion," she wrote, "but I'm also admiring of their willingness to give someone who's been fired from her previous township manager position a second chance."The advertisement also included a link to an article from

www.lehighvalleylive.com that referenced a 3-2 decision by Upper Mount Bethel supervisors to remove Maureen Sterner as its township manager after 10 years."It was a new board that decided to come in and make a change," Strubinger said regarding that action. "We did extensive background checks and looked very closely into any candidates we had for the manager position."According to his wife's advertisement, Chris Lukasevich has served as an active duty airborne ranger and special forces soldier with the U.S. Army for the past 34 years, including a rise in rank to "full bird" colonel in 2011.Strubinger said Tuesday he was surprised to hear of the advertisement."Throughout the interview process and subsequent offering of the position, we never heard or sensed any frustration from anyone, whether it be a candidate or someone else," he said.Lukasevich said he interviewed three times for the manager position and had it confirmed to him from an elected Jim Thorpe official that Sterner was the candidate who would be offered the position."I don't have any hard feelings, but it doesn't mean I'm not disappointed in council's judgment," he said. "You'll find very few people who leave a town for 34 years and come back and want to make a difference. I would put my leadership and management abilities up against anyone. Nobody is more passionate about the town."The candidates were never named publicly during the process."I thought the public, in an appropriate forum, should have had a chance to voice its opinion on who they thought would make a good candidate for manager," Lukasevich said.Jim Thorpe first advertised the position in October 2014. Though it received 19 applicants, the borough never made a hire.It re-advertised the job in July and received 30 applications. It interviewed three finalists.The position has been vacant since Wesley Johnson was terminated in 2012 after almost two full years on the job."I think Jim Thorpe has only had two managers in about 60 years," Strubinger said. "It's a very important position and something we wanted to take our time with. I think it was a satisfactory search in my mind."Jim Thorpe's reorganization meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday at Memorial Park Hall, along East 10th Street in the borough.