Berkeley County Commission approves fee waiver, budget revisions, construction change order and personnel action

The Berkeley County Commission on February 2025 approved a set of motions including a permit-fee waiver for a rebuilding church, several budget actions and a construction change order to finish the second floor of the county’s day-report center, and accepted a state grant to fund DUI checkpoints.

Why it matters: The package of votes included items that will affect county operations and spending (state budget revision and a $1.17 million change order covered by remaining bond proceeds), public safety operations (a DUI checkpoint grant and a cybersecurity risk assessment contract), and personnel (a termination announced after executive session). The votes also implemented routine assessor corrections and cleared minutes and consent items.

Most significant votes - Waiver of land-development permit fee for Vanville Church of Christ (amount: $830): motion made and approved. Commissioners framed the waiver as support for a nonprofit congregation rebuilding after a fire. - State budget revision No. 6: the commission approved recognizing February revenue and allocated amounts to circuit clerk, state grants, contingencies, sheriff operations and senior services as presented by county staff; the revision was approved by motion. - Change order — Day Report Center second-floor completion: the commission approved a change order and related design/furniture/contingency package for Waynesboro Construction in the amount of $1,170,341, to be paid from remaining bond proceeds from the project. County staff told commissioners the bond proceeds will cover the change order and that the completed center supports diversion programs the county says reduce jail costs. - Cybersecurity/security risk assessment contract: the commission accepted a vendor bid and approved the first-year contract (vendor recommended: Reclomir) for a NIST-based cybersecurity risk assessment; the award covered the first-year assessment with options for up to four additional years. - DUI-checkpoint grant (Commission on Drunk Driving): the commission agreed to front payroll and equipment purchases to operate DUI checkpoints and accept state reimbursement. The grant provides $15,000 per quarter for personnel reimbursements and $10,750 for a trailer and related equipment; the sheriff’s office said reimbursements are submitted after expenditures. - Personnel action after executive session: the commission voted to accept staff recommendation to terminate Tracy Gaines effective immediately (motion approved in open session after executive session). - Tax office exonerations: the commission approved two assessor-recommended exonerations for personal property totaling $1,069.38 and a real-estate correction totaling $518.21.

Other routine approvals included minutes for prior meetings (with recorded abstentions by Commissioner Boyd and Commissioner Whitaker on some votes), bond reductions or releases recommended by engineering staff, consent agenda approval and bid openings for county furniture and aerial systems. Several bids were read into the record for the health department furniture procurement and for law-enforcement aerial systems (drone) RFP responses.

Details and next steps: The commission authorized staff to record clerical corrections to the county comprehensive-plan update and send the adopted plan to the clerk’s office for recording. Staff indicated the day-report center change order will be funded from remaining bond proceeds and that the facility’s programming is intended for in-house use to support diversion and supervision services.