Schuylkill County commissioners last week increased the cap on a contract for a drug and alcohol counseling program for inmates poised to be released from jail.

They approved a request from the county Drug & Alcohol agency to increase the contract cap from $30,000 to $70,000 for Schuylkill Health Counseling for the "Breaking the Cycle" program.Last February, commissioners approved the program for prerelease inmates."Breaking the Cycle" is among the evidence-based programs produced by The Change Companies. The program involved interactive journaling as a method to help people struggling with addictions and self-destructive behavior to become more aware of how their paths in life have brought them to where they are now, and to map out how to get to change their behaviors to get to where they want to be.The number of inmates using the program has increased to about 10 to 15 from the prerelease program and a couple of other inmates, said county Drug & Alcohol administrator Melissa Chewey.They meet twice a week for 10 weeks.The cap increase was not due to additional funding, but rather to how the grants that pay for the program were distributed. The county runs on a January to December calendar year and the agency on a June to July fiscal year.In other matters, commissioners increased caps on two contracts for Rest Haven, the county nursing home.One with Dedicated Nursing Associates increased by $13,000, bringing it to $16,500; while the other with General Healthcare Resources rose by $15,000, bringing it to $30,000.The commissioners also accepted the retirement of David Wiscount from the election bureau, effective March 20, and hired Drew Kline of Hegins as a per diem parks and recreation supervisor for the Soil Conservation agency at $15.25 an hour.They also announced the resignations of part-time assistant district attorney Shane Hobbs, dispatcher Vaughan Shuman and maintenance worker William Bruce.David Rice of Blythe Township was hired as a part-time assistant district attorney at $25,575, the same salary as Hobbs. John Fekety of Pottsville was hired as first deputy in the prothonotary's office at $38,262; and Lauren Sorokach of Pottsville and Allysa Brown of Schuylkill Haven were appointed as unpaid interns in the mental health and public defenders offices, respectively.