Carbon County officials have put the brakes on accepting a $250,000 grant that would help with a criminal justice diversion program, saying they need specifics on how the county will maintain the funding once the grant runs out.

On Thursday, the board of commissioners voted to table the action to accept the Justice Assistance Grant local initiatives funding through the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency until next week.

This extra time will allow for the adult probation office to provide details on moving forward with the grant.

Under the terms of the grant, the county, if it accepts, would receive $187,500 for the first year and $62,500 for the second year. The money would cover hiring two pretrial officers as well as a part-time sentencing guideline technician through Sept. 30, 2024.

Commissioner Rocky Ahner voiced his concerns, saying he has some questions that he needs answered before approving this motion.

He questioned which criminal justice departments it would help, how will it be funded long-term and is it going to be a good investment for the county.

“Is it really going to work?” Ahner said. “I would hate to hire somebody and then, if it doesn’t work (the grant funding), then you’re going to fire them in two years. ... It’s not just $187,000. It could wind up being $300,000 to the county budget.”

Commissioner Chris Lukasevich said the application was approved by the board in March, but that since then, the adult probation office has changed leadership because of chief adult probation officer Richmond Parsons retiring.

“He clearly had a vision for it at that time,” Lukasevich said.

Since then, he said the board has not seen a concrete plan on how the money would be instituted and what would occur once funding ends.

Ahner said that initiatives the county has already implemented are helping to decrease the inmate population at the prison and this may be another tool in the overall process. He just wants more explanation on it.

Carbon County first approved the application in March to focus on getting low-risk offenders out of the prison ahead of their court dates and into treatment.

At the time, Commissioners’ Chairman Wayne Nothstein said that Carbon County has a large caseload with regards to drug and alcohol offenses so this would be useful to help divert people from the prison system.

The county has also worked with the public defender’s office to start a program to try to get prisoners the help they need instead of sitting in prison; as well as have specialty courts for drug and veterans.