Delco prison board moves to change meetings to Tuesday

Realizes that’s when county council meets

CONCORD >> It’s back to the drawing board for the Delaware County Board of Prison Inspectors.

At Wednesday’s meeting, the board unanimously approved moving its meeting day from the second Wednesday of the month to the second Tuesday of the month in an attempt to accommodate members of Delaware County Council who want to attend. The meeting time at 10 a.m. and the location at the George W. Hill Correctional Facility would stay the same.

But county council holds its regularly scheduled agenda meeting every Tuesday preceding a regular council meeting. At the agenda meeting, council discusses what items will appear on the next day’s meeting agenda.

“I know that there was a request from county council that your meetings be scheduled at a time that didn’t conflict routinely with county council meetings,” resident Margie McAboy said.

“That’s just what we did,” prison board Chairman John Hosier said.

“But they meet on Tuesday mornings at 10 o’clock,” McAboy said. “That’s when their agenda meeting is.”

Hosier quickly offered an apology.

“I apologize,” he said. “When we took this (motion) ... we thought about the board. There was no intent to have it on Tuesday. It was about looking at everybody’s schedules as to what their availability was.”

For months, county Councilman Kevin Madden has been asking to have the prison board meetings moved to a different day as he expressed a desire to attend them. He attended the February prison board meeting, held on a day county council didn’t meet, and asked specifically for the prison board to change its meetings to a different time so county council members could attend.

At the time, Hosier said he would mention that to the board.

On Wednesday, Hosier explained that the board had pared down the alternative meeting days to Tuesdays and Thursdays but that he had a standing meeting every Thursday that made it impossible for him to attend a prison board meeting that day.

Upon learning about the county council agenda meeting dates, Hosier said the prison board would take that under consideration, with the ability to change the meeting day in April.

April’s meeting will remain 10 a.m. on the second Wednesday of the month. Any change the board would make is subject to advertising and notification requirements that make May the earliest month for a different day.

Hosier said the board will reconsider changing the meeting day. “I’m going to talk with them individually to see if we can come up with an alternative date,” he said of his fellow board members.

“If the goal was to not conflict with county council, that goal was not achieved,” McAboy said.