Limestone County commission approves third juvenile detention bed, directs staff to pursue temporary-hold agreements

The Limestone County Commission approved adding a third juvenile detention bed at the Tennessee Valley Juvenile Detention Center and directed county staff to negotiate memorandums of understanding with out-of-county facilities to provide temporary holds, commissioners said during the May work session.

Commissioners said the action responds to recent incidents in which a lack of available beds forced county deputies to release juveniles. “We had a young lady who stole a car and wrecked it. And because our facility was full, we had to release that child,” Commissioner (unnamed) said. “There and another case where a young man threatened Achilles mother and there was no bed available.”

The commission’s direction covers two steps: adding one more bed to the county’s contract with the Tennessee Valley Juvenile Detention Center — bringing the county’s total at that facility to three — and giving the chairman, the county attorney and the county administrator authority to negotiate memorandums of understanding with neighboring juvenile facilities. “We’ve already got that ok’d and approved over there,” the chairman (unnamed) said of the Tennessee Valley center, and later asked commissioners to authorize negotiations "subject to the attorney’s approval of the contract." Commissioner (unnamed) said juvenile officers requested the MOUs to ensure availability “if we have a child who’s violent we need to separate him for the family for a couple of days.”

County officials discussed cost information in the meeting; the chairman said he had received a per-bed figure but characterized it as approximate. The meeting record gives the amount as “a hundred and 38 or something,” and did not provide a precise, finalized contract price during the session.

The commission also asked staff to add the bed contract amendment to the formal agenda for a future meeting and instructed staff to return with any final contract language for review. Commissioners did not record a formal roll-call vote in the work-session transcript; multiple commissioners voiced support and no objections were recorded.

Next steps cited in the session include drafting the contract amendment for the additional bed and preparing any memorandums of understanding for attorney review before execution.

The action aims to provide immediate placement capacity and a short-term option through MOUs rather than a long-term expansion of local juvenile detention facilities, county officials said.