The Rowan County Board of Commissioners adopted a resolution in October calling for legislation to change current state law and require the parental consent.

And the board of the Rowan County Health Department, which provides the contraceptives, voted in November to endorse the county commission’s position.

Social Services board member Zell Setzer proposed in November that the five-member board follow suit, saying the county needs a united stand on the issue and that the Health and Social Services departments serve some of the same clients.

He failed to convince board members Lee Piper and Marjorie Kinard, who said they wouldn’t support the proposal. And on Tuesday, board member Edwin Koontz said he feels it’s a “Health Department issue.”

Setzer was scheduled to present that information last month, but Piper and Kinard were absent. This month, Setzer missed the meeting because he is hospitalized with illness.

Chairman Frank Tadlock asked the board to delay action on the proposal until Setzer returns. Other board members reluctantly agreed but said it won’t make any difference in the outcome.

“This is none of our business,” Piper said. “This is not the business of DSS. This is not the business of this board.”

Piper said she doesn’t oppose giving minors contraceptives without notifying parents and she thinks the board shouldn’t “have to back up other boards’ decisions in the cause of solidarity among county departments.”

Piper and Kinard said in November that while working with young people, they’ve learned it’s not always wise or even safe for teens to tell their parents they need contraceptives.

Kinard said she’s not sure it is the Social Services board’s place even to discuss the issue, but that she’s willing to hear what Setzer has to say.

“We will do that ... out of respect for him, but we’ve already decided,” she said. “I just don’t see what he can present that will change our minds.”