A union representative for the county prison’s guards and sergeants is asking the county to make some changes to cut back on the number of overtime hours employees are working at the prison in Nesquehoning.

On Thursday, Matthew Weidman, organizer/business agent for Teamsters Local 773, approached the county commissioners with a request after the corrections officers his union represents brought up their concerns regarding overtime.

He said that the union is hoping the county can increase the number of full-time corrections officers or sergeants they have working at the prison. According to the annual salary board meeting notes, the Teamsters represent 43 full-time corrections officers in Carbon County.

Commissioners’ Chairman Wayne Nothstein said the county is well aware of the overtime problem at the prison and has tried to alleviate some of the issue last year by hiring four additional full-time corrections officers, but it “doesn’t seem to have eliminated the problem.”

Commissioner William O’Gurek said the county is concerned about this as well, not only for the financial standpoint, but also for the corrections officers themselves.

“We’re running into situations where sometimes a correctional officer is working 80 hours in a week, and that’s not only a concern to us from the standpoint of running up overtime but more so that person’s safety and overall operations,” O’Gurek said. “That’s not conducive to business.”

The board said that the materials Weidman presented will be taken to the prison board, which is the jurisdictional body overseeing the operations of the prison. The commissioners also sit on that board.

Carbon County has been working to cut back on the number of hours corrections officers work since 2016, when the county paid $301,607.17 in overtime at the prison.

In 2017, the county asked for help by the state Department of Corrections with a staffing analysis.

In 2018, the county decided to hire four additional corrections officers to try to help solve the issue of overtime.

The commissioners said the prison board will be addressing the matter.

In other matters, Jim Thorpe resident Edith Lukasevich approached the commissioners to see if they looked at the former Jim Thorpe Junior-Senior High School as a possible location for more office space instead of building on Susquehanna Street. She said she heard the building will be going up for sale.

“That would make a wonderful building,” she said.

Nothstein said that he was unaware that the building was for sale, but it is too late to make changes because contracts have been awarded and money has already been spent.

He said transportation and parking would still be an issue at that location as well.