A warehouse fire in Allegheny County is not expected to further delay the construction of the new Butler County Prison.

Pat Stone of Massaro Corp., the project construction manager, said at Tuesday's prison board meeting most of the metal ductwork for the new prison was delivered to the South Washington Street site before Saturday's fire.

"They have plenty of material to keep going," Stone said.

The fire occurred at Zacherl Sheet Metal's warehouse in West Deer Township. Zacherl is a subcontractor for prime contractor Wayne Crouse of Pittsburgh.

Stone said the ductwork lost in the fire was not going to be used for several weeks.

"We don't anticipate there being a problem," he said.

While the fire did not cause any new setbacks, workers at the prison site have regained a week in the building schedule from previous delays.

Stone said the current timetable shows an April 11, 2008, completion.

That is because the length of time for some of the masonry work was shorter than anticipated, he said.

Stone said the schedule's Aug. 13 date for the building being under roof should be met.

"They should be able to do that without any hiccups," he said.

Even with the recovered week, the $40 million project remains nearly six months behind the original completion date of Oct. 13.

The county has the contractual right to penalize any prime contractor deemed responsible for delays past the Oct. 13 deadline.

The new building, which will have space for 512 beds, replaces the overcrowded prison on Vogely Street, which has less than half of that capacity.

As of Tuesday, the Vogeley building had 144 inmates and the temporary annex in the city tier garage had 46 inmates. Another 110 inmates are housed in other county prisons for daily fees ranging between $45 and $55.

With the county inmates totaling 300 and another 20 to 30 pending from other prisons, where they are being held for other crimes, Sheriff Dennis Rickard asked what the total inmate number could be by the time the new prison opens and its impact on staffing.

Warden Rich Gigliotti said predicting the total number of inmates is difficult because that number constantly rises and drops.

While a transition team works on details of the new prison, county officials have been reluctant to project whether there will be a staff increase.

Rickard pressed for a "ballpark" number to be provided at the Aug. 14 prison board meeting. Gigliotti agreed, saying such a count would be needed for 2008 county budget planning.

Along with staffing, other unresolved issues include parking and a drive-in sallyport, which is a secure entrance for prisoners.

Bill O'Donnell, chief county clerk, said prison architect L. Robert Kimball is nearly done designing a new sallyport to be by the government center loading dock off South Washington Street.

Prisoners in the jail would be driven from the new prison to the sallyport that will be connected to the government center.

Rickard said his deputies will not walk prisoners outside if the sallyport is not ready in time.

"We will not walk 40-some prisoners across the street," he said. "That's unacceptable."

County President Judge Thomas Doerr said the number of prisoner moves would significantly drop if a video hookup is made in the new prison's courtroom. He said the planned courtroom and video hookup would enable inmates to stay in the prison for many court appearances.

"This would be for everything but criminal trials," Doerr said. "They would have to be in person."

To get an occupancy permit for the new prison, the county must have 92 parking spaces to meet city zoning regulations.

O'Donnell said the county already has 47 spaces and would get the remaining 45 spaces after demolishing the current prison.

However, since the 45 spaces will not be available ahead of time, the county needs to lease temporary spaces to receive a temporary occupancy permit.

Dave Johnston, county planning director, said the contingency parking plan should be submitted for the city's approval within a month.

The county intends to rent spaces from the county Housing Authority in the city.

John Evans, city zoning and code management officer, said later Tuesday the city is willing to work with the county on the parking issue.