The Beaufort County Community Services and Public Safety Committee met Monday. Below are some agenda highlights from the meeting.

Assistant County Administrator Report

ACA Audra Antonacci-Ogden-Community Services introduced Rebecca Whitt, Director of Nexus Care of Beaufort County who shared department updates on programming, successful community outreach efforts to reduce the misuse of substances and the establishment of multiple kiosks that dispense Naxalone to offset drug overdoses.

Watch Director Whitt's presentation here.

ACA John Robinson-Public Safety gave an update from Mosquito Control including a very successful mosquito control program. Both flight delivered mosquito control and truck spraying covered hundreds of thousands of acres around the County.

County EMS responded to over 60,000 calls. The department is now working with three shifts.

In 2025 the Detention Center performed 3800+ intakes and 3700+ releases. There was an increase in inmate vs. staff and inmate vs. inmate incidents requiring disciplinary actions. The average stay was 14 days—Beaufort County has reduced it to 8 days. The recruitment process has begun for a new DC Director, and the Deputy Director will take over those duties until a hire is made.

The County Animal Shelter is within space accommodations due to proactive fostering, partnerships with ASPCA and other animal agencies. MOU with Jasper County ends in June; incredible progress has been made with improvements and living conditions for all the animals. Number of animals both cats and dogs has been drastically reduced due to adoptions and partnerships with rescue organizations. 

County Fleet Services processed over 2700 service and maintenance requests including preventive maintenance. Excellent maintenance records with nine technicians. Helps equipment and auto assets last longer.

Watch his presentation here.

Discussion Items

CFO Pinky Harriott and ACA Audra Antonacci-Ogden gave a brief update on the recent integration of the Human Services Department with Nexus Care of Beaufort County. Most staff transferred over and programs are being merged with the goal of maintaining services. Financial accounts, resource service contracts and programming costs are being reviewed by both CFO Pinky Harriott and Director Rebecca Whitt.

Watch the presentation here. 

CFO Pinky Harriott gave a financial update on the affordable housing issue. She presented a list of properties for discussion as donations to Habitat for Humanity affordable housing projects. Partnership has been established for a "veterans village." Heather Rath, presenting on behalf of Habitat of Humanity to discuss the proposed project to help keep veterans in the area once they leave active service.

Watch the Habitat for Humanity Veterans Village presentation.

The committee voted to move this to Council for discussion and vote.

Resolutions

The committee voted to move the following resolutions to full Council for discussion and vote:

• Resolution authorizing a Memorandum of Agreement with MCRD Parris Island for mutual Emergency Medical Services response
• Resolution recognizing April as Fair Housing Month
• Resolution authorizing a Memorandum of Understanding with the Port Royal Sound Foundation for collaboration on natural resource monitoring and outreach 

Watch the entire Community Services and Public Safety Committee meeting here.

Note: this is a selection of items from the Council Committee Meeting Agendas. To watch the meeting in its entirety, download the agenda and packet, view minutes and more, please visit www.beaufortcountysc.gov. 

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Looking for more details or a specific item not covered in this release? Check out BCTV for full meeting recordings, agendas, and other details! BCTV can be found on cable channels Comcast - channel 2; Sparklight- channel 9 and 113; Spectrum - channel 1304. BCTV also streams live on ROKU and Amazon Fire.