Allegheny County’s president judge said Thursday that it is not within her purview to order County Executive Rich Fitzgerald to attend the monthly Jail Oversight Board meetings over which she presides.

The Pittsburgh Current reported in March that Fitzgerald is statutorily required to attend the meetings, but has failed to do so during his tenure as county executive.

Last month, following that reporting, two dozen groups and individuals, including 1Hood Power, Alliance for Police Accountability and Casa San Jose, signed off on a letter demanding Fitzgerald’s attendance at the meetings.

Citing recent lawsuits, the covid-19 outbreak at the jail, as well as the use of force and shortages on staffing, the letter accused Fitzgerald of “routinely and deliberately” ignoring the meetings.

“Conditions at the jail appear to be getting worse, not better,” the letter said. “And, persons both inside the jail (staff and incarcerated people) and in the community have lost confidence that the present administration of the ACJ is committed to enacting needed reforms.”

This week, several community members marched to county offices demanding Fitzgerald’s attendance, and during Thursday’s jail board meeting, President Judge Kim Berkeley Clark said several public comments had been submitted on the issue, as well.

“I get the impression from many of the comments that people expect me, because I’m a judge, to order Mr. Fitzgerald to come to the meetings,” she said during the virtual meeting. “I don’t feel I can do that. This is not a court setting where I have that kind of authority. I don’t believe I can do that.”

For years, Fitzgerald has sent a designee to the meeting. Former deputy county manager Barb Parees continued in her seat on the board even after her retirement last year.

“He’s not the only board member that doesn’t attend meetings,” Clark said. “He may have missed more than most but we have a representative.”

The judge said that Fitzgerald is “very committed to making sure that people are not incarcerated that don’t pose a risk to safety to the community, despite that he may or may not attend the board meetings.”

County spokeswoman Amie Downs said there are 17 departments in the executive branch, with all of those reporting to the county manager.

“The county manager meets continually with the county executive and provides up-to-date information on all of the departments, including the jail,” she said. “Those meetings occur several times a week at a minimum.”

Information reported or provided during a board meeting, Downs said, has already been reviewed or shared by the county manager.

“The county executive has over three dozen boards to which he serves as a member and sends a representative to many of them,” said Downs, who said their office has heard from “a small handful of people” over Fitzgerald’s lack of attendance.

But according to Pennsylvania statute, the county executive is not supposed to send a designee to the jail board meeting.

The statute says that the county jail oversight board “shall be composed of: the county chief executive; two judges of the court of common pleas, one of whom shall be the president judge, or his designee who shall be a judge, and one judge appointed by the president judge; the county sheriff; the county controller; the president of county council or his designee and three citizen members.”

At Thursday’s meeting, board member and Allegheny County Coucilwoman Bethany Hallam questioned who is responsible for ensuring that the statute is being followed.

“The county executive is statutorily mandated to attend these meetings,” she said.

Clark responded, “I get it.”

But, she continued, “I feel the decision to have Ms. Parees was a good decision. She contributed a lot to the board. She is the representative for him.”

Hallam disagreed.

“I feel like we are doing a disservice to the people in the jail, and really the taxpayers of Allegheny County,” she said.

Clark encouraged those trying to get Fitzgerald to attend the meetings to use a different tact.

“I don’t think the way to get anybody to attend a meeting is to, kind of, bombard the oversight board with comments about or it or to bombard the office of the president judge with comments about it because that’s not the collaborative and kind way to do it,” she said. “I just feel like there’s a better way for us to engage. If you want the county executive to attend these meetings, this is not the way to go about it, I don’t think.

“If it were me, I would probably just turn away.”

Clark suggested the advocates “approach with an air of kindness and respect.”

Allegheny County Controller Chelsa Wagner, who also sits on the board, said she understood why the advocates had approached its members.

“It’s the only public forum where jail issues are discussed,” she said. “I can understand why these organizations raised it to this board.“

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