Pay raises sought for part-time county prison guards
The Butler County Prison board voted Tuesday to seek salary board approval for pay raises for some part-time corrections officers.
The prison board requested $1 raises on top of the $18 an hour wage current paid to part-time, irregular officers who work up to 1,000 hours a year.
Warden Beau Sneddon said the six part-time irregular officers who work at the prison requested the raise.
He said all officers receive 120 hours of training before being allowed to work alone in the facility, but the part-time irregular officers work only a couple shifts per week.
The board agreed to forward the pay raise request to the salary board, which is scheduled to meet Nov. 29.
In addition, the board hired four part-time regular officers, who work 32 hours a week.
The new officers are Matthew McConahy, Dominic Brayo-Cefaratti, Michael Donahue and Thomas Donnelly.
Sneddon said the employment situation at the prison is “trending up.”
He said recently hired officers are performing well and quality candidates are applying for job openings.
In other business, the board agreed to remove the trees growing along South Washington Street in front of the prison.
Sneddon said the trees have grown so large that they block the security cameras view of the outside of the prison. He said the county bridge department has agreed to cut and remove the trees, and the trees might be replaced with shrubs.
The board also agreed to buy a Ford F-150 pickup truck at a cost of about $51,000. The truck will be used to transport inmates.
The truck costs $45,500 and a cage that county employees will install to contain inmates will cost $4,000 to $5,000, he said.
Sneddon said the truck had been ordered by a police department through the Costars cooperative purchasing program, but the department canceled the order.
The prison has one inmate transportation vehicle, but another one is needed, he added.
