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Berkeley County to temporarily host Jefferson County day-report participants under MOU
Summary
The Berkeley County Commission approved a memorandum of understanding to allow Jefferson County to send participants to Berkeley’s day-report center for up to a year while Jefferson builds its own program; Jefferson County will pay its costs, officials said.
The Berkeley County Commission voted March 27 to approve a memorandum of understanding allowing Jefferson County to use Berkeley’s day-report center and community corrections services while Jefferson spins up its own program.
The MOU, vetted by county attorneys, will let Jefferson County transport participants to Berkeley County’s facility and transfer related grant funds to Berkeley for program operations for the coming fiscal year. Gary (county staff) told the commission that “Jefferson County is prepared to pay 100% of their cost. They’re not asking you to spend any of your Berkeley County monies or your Berkeley County grants to support that.”
Why it matters: County officials said they were acting to avoid leaving Jefferson County courts without a day-report option, which local prosecutors and judges had warned would result in more jail commitments and higher regional jail costs. Berkeley officials described the arrangement as temporary technical assistance while Jefferson County establishes an internal center expected to operate by fiscal 2027 (beginning July 1, 2026).
Community corrections director Tim Zayas described operational details the commission asked about, including staff and transportation. “Our plan is gonna be to… start an immediate recruitment… for a driver,” he said, explaining Jefferson County is delivering a vehicle with its own fuel card and that initial hires would be Berkeley County employees who would transition to Jefferson County employment once Jefferson’s center is ready. “You’re being hired by Berkeley County for now, but you’ll transition over to Jefferson County once they’re ready for that.”
Commissioners said they supported the arrangement so long as it imposed no financial burden on Berkeley County taxpayers and would not overwhelm staff. Eddie Benitez (county administrator) and others described the effort as a cooperative, “open-book” sharing of Berkeley’s program practices so Jefferson can learn from Berkeley’s operations.
Discussion items recorded in the read-ahead packet include Jefferson County’s day-report plan and supporting letters from Jefferson courts. County staff said the MOU also anticipates the diversion of Jefferson’s previously awarded state grant dollars to Berkeley for the interim period.
Ending: The commission approved the MOU and granted the commission president authority to sign the document. County staff said they will immediately recruit a driver and adjust grant applications as needed to reflect the temporary caseload and funding flows.
