Monroe County commissioner will continue to serve during cancer treatment

Following a series of absences from Monroe County commissioner meetings, Lee Jones has confirmed in a phone interview with The B Square that she is undergoing treatment for leukemia, which was diagnosed in late July.

Jones says she does not plan to resign and will continue to serve through her treatment. She expects to be finished with the series of treatments and be “right back to myself by February.”

In the meantime, she says that she thinks she will be able to attend at least three of the regular commissioners meetings a month, plus a majority of the committee meetings, when things are going right.” Monroe County commissioners typically meet every Thursday.

Recently, things did not go right with her treatment, Jones said, which was a setback and led to absences from meetings that she had not expected. “There’ll be occasional rough patches, but as they refine the treatment, it should get better and better,” Jones said. She said she’ll use the option of participating in meetings of the commissioners through a remote electronic connection.

By default, Indiana’s Open Door Law allows for officials to participate in meetings by remote electronic connection for at least two meetings in a row. But attendance by remote video connections are possible for longer stretches for various reasons spelled out in the law, which include “illness or other medical condition.”

The one meeting of commissioners that Jones has attended since July 17 was by remote electronic connection, on Sept. 4. Jones told The B Square she expects to attend the next scheduled meeting of the commissioners, which is Oct. 9.