Beaufort County Community Services and Public Safety Committee, November 2, 2026 @ 2:00 PM

The Beaufort County Community Services and Public Safety Committee met on November 2, 2026. Human Services reported that its restored South Carolina DHHS contract is $207,232, matched by $103,616, and described its wraparound case-management work, housing assistance data, and homelessness-related services. The committee also heard presentations from Pockets Full of Sunshine and Novant Health; Novant cited more than $4 million in equipment spending this year and plans for approximately 100 workforce-housing units on hospital-owned land, but no county purchasing action was associated with those presentations.

The committee considered a proposed contract with Beaufort Memorial Hospital for inmate mental-health services at an annual cost of $209,165.04, selected through a solicitation process; the transcript records a call for a vote but does not clearly capture the result. The committee also approved an ad hoc committee of fire chiefs to liaise on a fire-service consolidation study, then unanimously approved a $156,535 contract with Emergency Services Consulting International under RFQ 09 070926, with a recommended 5% contingency of $7,800. The study will focus primarily on the financial feasibility and fairness of potential consolidation.