If the county commissioners get a quick resolution of the prison project morass, the money the taxpayers will be doling out to two law firms hired last week will represent a good investment.

But if a quick solution to the problems stemming from the departure of the project's general contractor in December does not materialize, Tuesday's action will merit characterization as another breach in the financial dike encircling the project.

The project, originally carrying a $30 million price tag, already has ballooned in cost to about $40 million. The need to bring in additional, expensive legal representation will only add to the project's total bill.

Even though the commissioners feel the additional legal help is a must, as Commissioner James Lokhaiser described, to enable the county "to take the offensive," county taxpayers are nonetheless left to wonder why the county's full-time solicitor should be bypassed on pursuing a problem that clearly should be within the parameters of the solicitor's responsibility.

The county also had been paying Butler lawyer Bruno Muscatello $135 an hour for work on legal issues related to the prison. Under the new scenario, Muscatello will provide background information on the case to those newly hired.

Under the hirings approved Tuesday, the Pittsburgh law firm of Burns, White & Hickton will be paid $250 per hour for work done by lawyer Dave Hickton and $190 per hour for work done by associates in the firm.

Also hired Tuesday was Butler lawyer Tom King, who already is paid a retainer as the Sheriff's Department solicitor. King will be paid $135 an hour for his prison-related work.

Hickton's firm specializes in contract litigation; the status of the contract of departed general contractor A.G. Cullen Construction of Pittsburgh needs sorted out, either by negotiation or through the courts. Meanwhile, King's hiring provides the county with a local attorney with whom county officials can remain in close contact, as the situation dictates.

But even at this early juncture, concerned county taxpayers can assume that the legal work ahead isn't going to be accomplished in an hour or two or three. The overall legal bill will most certainly be formidable — unless, of course, Cullen's insurer, Travelers Casualty & Surety, effects a quick solution to which the county commissioners will be agreeable.

"We wanted to start fresh and get all of the facts," commissioners chairman Dale Pinkerton said, while not explaining why the new commissioners board thinks it might not already have all of the facts surrounding the prison.

But county residents should feel cautious optimism in what the commissioners are doing until there is sufficient cause for feeling otherwise. The new commissioners board recognizes the problems associated with having the new prison remain uncompleted and, commendably, is willing to make hard decisions to rescue the project from limbo.

In this instance, the hard decision involves spending what could be a significant amount of money for legal work that should not be necessary.

"We do have a plan,"King told the commissioners.

Hickton told the commissioners that he is prepared to take the issue to court.

For the taxpayers in the weeks and, possibly, months ahead, it will be an uneasy wait-and-see to learn how much the backfiring of the former commissioners board's prison actions will affect county residents' wallets and pocketbooks. It also will be months or more until taxpayers will be able to judge whether last week's hirings were the right decision for the increasingly frustrating construction saga.

But the concept of "money well spent" has become an idea more and more outside the scope of the prison project than anyone might ever have imagined. Hopefully the newly hired law firms will prove skeptics wrong.