Commission fails to have quorum

As the out-of-county jails reach capacity, Lawrence County Sheriff Jeff Lawless has had to reach out to other jails to handle the overcrowding at his facility.

Right now, Lawless needs to have the Lawrence County Commissioners approve contracts with Huron and Shelby counties. Huron will charge $58 a day per inmate and Shelby $60 a day.

The sheriff was expecting to present the contracts at the commissioners’ regular Thursday meeting. However, the meeting was canceled for lack of a quorum.

Commissioner Freddie Hayes Jr. was sick and commission president Les Boggs had a prior commitment.

Commissioner Bill Pratt attended the meeting.

“Currently Morrow, Mercer and Knox are at their capacity,” Lawless said. “You have to reach out to counties that have a fairly decent size jail. Shelby and Huron are willing to accept prisoners from us.”

Huron is a five-and a half hour drive from Ironton while Shelby is about a three-hour drive.

Morrow, Mercer and Knox are charging $55 a day. As of Thursday, there were 44 in the county jail; two in Scioto, three in Knox, 21 in Mercer and 23 in Morrow.

Shelby, which was willing to take prisoners without an immediate contract, had 10 prisoners.

Also on the agenda was to be:

• Changing status of Joe Stevens from paramedic to advanced EMT;

• Terminating part-time EMT Kayla McCallister:

• Hiring Nanette Elliott as part-time EMT;

• Accepting resignations of Doug Delawder, part-time EMT, Daryl Harris, full-time paramedic, Ashley Delawder, full-time paramedic, and Cindy Carver, full-time paramedic;

• Receiving correspondence from county engineer on petition for Summit Street, Township Road 236 and Rome Township Road 281.

The commission will meet at 9:30 a.m. Thursday at the Lawrence County Fairgrounds for its next meeting.