The impact of the job walk off by the general contractor building the new Butler County Prison was lessened this week.

A few of A.G. Cullen Construction's subcontractors, including Cost Co. and Clista Electric, have decided to stay on the job. Cost does masonry work while Clista is installing security electronics.

Since the county's contract for that work is with Cullen, the other companies can't be paid to finish their jobs.

"They're making a good-faith effort," said county solicitor Julie Graham.

Pat Stone of Massaro Corp., the project manager, said Thursday that Cost and the other companies decided it was worthwhile to complete their work now during mild weather and worry about payment later.

He said Cost doesn't want to have to stop working and remove the scaffolding only to bring it back later.

Stone estimated Cost's masonry work is 99 percent done.

Clista also serves as a prime contractor on the $40 million project doing general electrical work.

Graham said the county hopes to work out an agreement with Travelers, Cullen's bonding company, to bring all of the roughly 20 affected subcontractors back to work.

"That's our hope," she said.

Travelers on Monday is sending a representative to assess the South Washington Street construction site. Cullen walked off the job Dec. 20 in a pay dispute with the county.

The insurer could either convince Cullen to return, name a replacement, reach a financial settlement with the county or deny any liability.

Stone said the net effect of Cullen's walk-off on the construction schedule has yet to be determined.

Under the last timetable submitted by Cullen, the project was scheduled to be done in May 2008. An estimated 80-day transition period would follow before the new prison would house inmates.

Cullen's departure has had additional ramifications, such as the county hiring a security firm to watch the construction site when work is not occurring.

The county commissioners on Thursday's meeting voted 2 to 1 to ratify an agreement with Victory Security of Carnegie for security at the site on evenings, weekends and holidays at a cost of $20 an hour for one person.

The fee increases to $30 an hour if the security guard works overtime or on holidays.

The contract expires Wednesday, leaving the county to negotiate a new agreement or take other steps.

Commissioner Glenn Anderson opposed the agreement, saying the work could be done in-house.

"Why are we (entering) another contract when we're broke," he said.

The county did use prison guards for the first day of the work stoppage, Dec. 20, but switched to the security firm Dec. 21.

Along with lower costs, Graham said the commissioners opted for the private security because of concerns by county prison board members Judge Tim McCune and Sheriff Dennis Rickard on using prison guards for duty outside the building.

During an interview Thursday at the Eagle, Rickard said he could schedule a deputy to security duty without any overtime costs to the county.

Bill O'Donnell, chief county clerk, questioned how a deputy could be freed up without creating more overtime when the sheriff's department has logged numerous overtime hours in the last month.

He said the deputies worked 114 hours of overtime in the last two weeks in November and 102 hours in the first two weeks of December.

If Rickard could schedule a deputy to watch the prison without an impact on the budget, why hasn't he done more shuffling in the normal work schedule to cut down on overtime costs, O'Donnell asked.

Graham said later in the day there wasn't enough time last week to pursue every possible avenue to address the security issue, but the county would consider every reasonable course of action in the coming week.

While retaining the scaffolding, the county could lose the fence surrounding the site. Cullen has notified officials the rented fence will be removed today.

Graham said the county is talking with Allegheny Fence Co., which is renting the fence to Cullen, about taking over the rental to keep the fence in place.

If the county does not reach an agreement with the company, another fence must be obtained.