SUNBURY — The Northumberland County commissioners will attempt to renegotiate a contract with prison board solicitor Todd Kerstetter to avoid handing the attorney what Commissioner Vinny Clausi called “an open checkbook” for his services.

The previous board voted 2-1 to hire Mr. Kerstetter at the end of December, with Commissioner Frank Sawicki providing the only “no” vote.

The agreement they approved called for Mr. Kerstetter to earn $1,000 a month and $75 an hour for his work. He has been the prison board solicitor — handling uninsured litigation cases for the prison — for four years, but was never paid.

However, Mr. Clausi felt county solicitor Hugh Allan Jones and assistant solicitor Vincent Rovito Jr. — both appointed at Tuesday’s regular commissioners’ meeting — could handle the workload themselves.

“It’s an unnecessary position,” he said of the prison board solicitor. “(The contract is) like an open checkbook. You don’t know how many hours you’re going to get billed for.”

Mr. Clausi said the position was created several years ago, during former commissioner Allen Cwalina’s administration. He made a motion for the board to appoint Mr. Jones and Mr. Rovito to handle the duties of the prison board solicitor.

But Mr. Sawicki said the county had a contract with Mr. Kerstetter and didn’t know if it would be possible to back out now.

Commissioner Kurt Masser said he is pleased with the job the prison board solicitor has done and reminded Mr. Clausi that the creation of the position was recommended unanimously by the prison board.

Mr. Clausi’s motion was not seconded, and therefore never came to a vote.

Though Mr. Masser also expressed doubt that the board could back out of its contract with Mr. Kerstetter, he suggested it might be possible to renegotiate the terms to remove the $75 an hour rate.

“I know it’s a concern of yours, and it’s a concern of mine,” he told Mr. Clausi.

Mr. Masser said he would talk to former county solicitor Guy Schlesinger, a partner in the same law firm as Mr. Kerstetter, about whether the contract could be renegotiated.