By Sarah DeSantis
The News-Item
SUNBURY — Eleven part-time employees who were laid off following the Jan. 14 county prison fire will return to work in a new location.
Northumberland County Prison Warden Bruce Kovach announced at Wednesday’s prison board meeting that the county received approval Tuesday for part-time employees to work at SCI-Coal Township.
The county has been housing male prisoners at SCI-Coal Township since the devastating fire. Female prisoners are being housed at SCI-Muncy.
Bringing the part-time employees back will help eliminate overtime, said Kovach.
Since the fire, prison employees have also been temporarily assigned to other duties, such as transporting prisoners to hearings.
Two full-time employees and 20 part-timers were laid off Feb. 18. By re-employing 11 part-timers, the count of employees who have been laid off due to the fire is down to just two full-timers and nine part-timers.
Kovach said it was too soon to say if the county could bring back the remaining employees but he is “optimistic.”
The relationship between SCI-Coal Township and the county has been excellent, said Kovach.
“The folks at Coal Township, I can’t even describe how helpful they’ve been,” he said.
He particularly appreciated working alongside Superintendent Vincent Mooney.
“He has really been very accommodating to us and helpful,” said Kovach. “Our guys are treated very well up there.”
The prison board also held an executive session during the meeting which lasted approximately 20 minutes. Board members did not specify the reason for the meeting.