A $3 million deal, the last money needed to build a 6-acre park and homes and businesses atop the old Columbus City Center mall site, hit a snag yesterday.

Franklin County commissioners postponed their vote on the grant for a week. The prosecutor's office, busy with a murder trial, is still finishing its required review of the contract.

"Get it done," a smiling Commissioner John O'Grady told an assistant prosecutor after the meeting.

He and fellow Commissioners Marilyn Brown and Paula Brooks all said they support the grant.

In other business, commissioners voted unanimously to restart a court work-release program. The board will rent, free, a county building at 2655 Jackson Pike to Alvis House.

The nonprofit agency plans to serve as many as 45 offenders, including many who failed to pay child support and need to work to catch up on payments. The courts will pay Alvis House $59.90 per night per inmate, a $10 savings over a night in jail.

Judges are eager to resume the program, shut down in 2005 because of management problems and legal concerns about judges running jails.

bcarmen@dispatch.com