SUNBURY- There’s been a staff ‘reset’ at the Northumberland County Prison, a state of emergency is declared, and the warded is retiring. At an emergency meeting of the county prison board Tuesday afternoon, they voted to accept the retirement of Warden Bruce Kovach, beginning this Friday.
Then following an executive session, the board voted unanimously to make Deputy Warden James Smink the Acting Warden. Afterward he said, “I have big shoes to fill. I think Warden Kovach and I had the same correctional sight. We’re gonna try to keep that and mind and moving forward, keeping both staff and inmates safe.” Smink has been with the prison for 23 years.
The board then voted to appoint Dave McCoy Deputy Warden, “Everything’s a challenge, and I’m always up for a good challenge. It’s going to be a new environment for me, but I know I got a good man here (Smink), and I always tell people, take what you know, take what I know and find a happy medium and make it work,” McCoy said.
Commissioner Kymberley Best also discussed the ‘state of emergency’ now declared at the prison due to the dire need for more prison personnel. She said other counties face the same situation, and she said the declaration is simply a ‘proactive’ measure. The board says it doesn’t want to wait until there is an even more severe need. The proclamation will be sent to Pennsylvania Emergency Management (PEMA).
Warden Kovach says he’s retiring for family reasons. He’s been on the job since December of 2014. He was new on the job in 2015 when the county jail was destroyed by fire, and oversaw the temporary transition of inmates to SCI Coal Township. He helped oversee construction of the new prison in Coal Township, which was occupied in late 2018.
