More night meetings was something newly-minted Schuylkill County Commissioner Larry Padora said he wanted to see on the campaign trail in 2023.
When the Commissioners meet at 10 a.m., their regular meeting time, it prevents many people in the county – namely those that work first-shift jobs and likely pay the lion’s share of the property taxes the government collects – from attending meetings.
These mid-morning meetings have been a bone of contention with anyone wishing to turn up at Commissioners meetings but can’t because of the odd hour at which they’re held.
When the Commissioners approved their meeting schedule for this coming year on Tuesday morning, there were only 2 meetings scheduled for a time other than the regular 10 a.m. starts.
That’s not a change from last year or any other recent Commissioners meeting schedule.
The Canary pressed the new Commissioners Chairman on this at Tuesday’s reorganization meeting. Padora said the board was working on it.
Later Tuesday, we were informed that the Commissioners are now going to have 4 meetings that start at 6 p.m. this year.
They’ll be held on the second Wednesday of March, June, September, and December. That’s once per quarter.
One of the issues with having a night meeting, The Canary’s been told, is having to fork out overtime pay for any employee that may need to stay late to accommodate this schedule.
To avoid having to pay too much extra in overtime, the Commissioners decided to hold their 4 night sessions in 2024 on the same night the Schuylkill County Planning Commission meets.
We’ve been told, however, that the Commissioners will have to re-advertise this revised meeting schedule once it’s formally approved by the board.
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Chris
January 3, 2024 at 6:23 am
Way to go Larry! Get in there & shake things up! Open things up! Let’s bring on the transparency & end the backroom deals. The taxpayers are counting on you.