The Butler County commissioners must have better rules, guidelines and understandings in place for the new-prison project than what has surfaced about the new 911 communications center.

If they don't, county taxpayers might be faced with very costly issues that the commissioners, by virtue of their offices and authority, should be capable of avoiding.

What has occurred with the 911 project - more than $22,000 in extra costs - is not only uncomplimentary, it's an embarrassing reflection on the commissioners' leadership abilities. Approvals for change orders, unanticipated work and extra costs should precede proposed revisions, not be sought afterward.

The commissioners should make it clear from the start of prison construction work that what has occurred regarding the communications center won't be tolerated once the prison work gets under way.

Like the commissioners, Carl Butler, as the county's director of facilities and operations, can be faulted for not being on top of the 911 situation to the point that he realized the necessity for the commissioners' immediate involvement and advice. Equally troubling from taxpayers' standpoint is that Butler told the commissioners he didn't know why the commissioners weren't immediately notified that there was a problem with fill at the construction site right when that problem became apparent.

The fact is he should know, and he should have been willing and able to provide that answer publicly on Monday when Commissioner Glenn Anderson questioned him about the lapse in good judgment.

Of the $22,000, which is not a huge amount of money in the realm of the county's overall budget but significant nonetheless, more than $17,000 was for the removal of debris from the foundation of a building previously at the new 911 center site. According to Butler, that extra cost was from having clean fill brought to the site.

The remaining extra cost resulted from a change order connected with different windows for the receptionists' work area.

The main issue isn't whether the changes were necessary; presumably they were and would have been deemed reasonable and justified if proper procedures had been followed. Rather, the main issue is that the county's leaders, with whom the proverbial buck stops, were relegated to second fiddle in the decision-making process - and, in some circumstances, that could be a recipe for trouble.

The commissioners should make a firm statement about any changes that might surface regarding the prison project, as well as any future proposed changes that the 911 project might encounter.

The commissioners are the boss. They should make it clear that they won't tolerate actions that fail to acknowledge that power and the responsibility to the taxpayers that goes with it.