LAWRENCE COUNTY Prison board promotes 4, hires 9 part-time officers

Board members are considering hiring a new manager at the jail.
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Lawrence County Prison Board members agreed to promote four part-time corrections officers to full-time status to staff the newly completed women's section of the jail.
Prison board members also hired nine part-time corrections officers, each making $10.44 per hour, to replace the four people who were promoted and fill other vacancies. Those who were promoted will remain at $10.44 an hour.
The board also agreed to hire a part-time secretary. That salary was not available from board members.
Also on agenda: In other business, prison board President Ed Fosnaught suggested board members consider hiring another full-time manager at the jail. That person could help eliminate the need to use union members to run the facility when the warden and other managers are not available, he said.
According to Susan Quimby, human resources director, there were 260 shifts last year when union members had to take on managers' duties because no one else was available. Until last August, those union members would receive an extra 25 cents an hour when they filled in for a salaried manager.
However, that pay differential was not addressed when they signed a new contract last year and union members have since been negotiating a new pay scale with the county, Quimby said.
She noted that the salary and benefits of a new manager would equal the amount of money the county paid in union differentials last year, about $40,000.