People arrested for misdemeanor offenses in Birmingham will be taken to the Jefferson County jail, rather than city jail beginning Monday.

That’s according to an agreement the city reached with Jefferson County Sheriff Mark Pettway.

“This is not a long-term solution and is undoubtedly a burden on the county, but this is a desperate situation,” Pettway said Friday in announcing the agreement. “I am hopeful that Birmingham can resolve their issues quickly and get onto better footing. Birmingham is an important partner in the fight to improve public safety in Jefferson County.”

Under the agreement, people who would normally go to the Birmingham city jail will go to the county lockup. The county already houses people arrested on felony charges.

Pettway told AL.com that he expects minimal financial burden to the county.

“If it continues, then financial arrangements will be worked out later,” he said. “We’re not sure how long Birmingham is going to do this.”

Birmingham for years has sought an alternative to its aging city jail and its challenged condition. Ideas have included creating a regional jail and working with the county to house inmates. However, the most recent talks with the Jefferson County Commission and Mayor Randall Woodfin had stalled over the amount that the county would receive to be reimbursed per inmate.

That changed with Friday’s announcement of an agreement.

Rick Journey, director of communications for the city, said the new arrangement is an effort to provide an efficient and effective process for individuals held in the Birmingham City Jail.

“Our focus is on serving the public, our employees and individuals placed in our custody,” Journey said. “We are thankful to Sheriff Pettway for his collaboration on this next step in an ongoing process. The current agreement is in keeping with state statutes and will in no way weaken public safety in our community. In fact, it strengthens the deep collaboration between the City of Birmingham, Birmingham Police Department and Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.”

Journey said the city would provide additional updates on next steps “at the appropriate time.”

In order to house misdemeanor inmates, the city is seeking to change how they are charged, according to Pettway. The city is seeking to charge individuals through the Jefferson County 10th Judicial Court system for their misdemeanor arrests. This action requires that warrants be obtained via magistrates in the 10th Judicial Circuit and cases be heard by District Court Judges in the 10th Judicial Circuit, Pettway explained.

Birmingham police were given directions regarding the new arrangement through a memo obtained by AL.com. The county will accept people for probable cause arrests and 48-hour felony holds made by BPD, according to the memo. Defendants arrested for outstanding city warrants will continue to be processed at the city jail.

“All state citations written from January 1, 2024, forward shall be sworn to the Jefferson County Magistrate,” according to the memo. “Officers shall ensure the court location on the citation(s) is changed from the David J. Vann Courthouse to the Jefferson County Courthouse.”

The partnership announcement came as a shock to Jefferson County Commission President, who said Pettway had assured him that he would not accept the city’s inmates.

“We had talked, and he told me he was actually going to have a TRO (Temporary Restraining Order) issued next week and he would not do that,” Stephens told AL.com. “What you are doing is, you are putting the burden on the county taxpayers for a problem that the city of Birmingham has because they didn’t do maintenance on their jail. They did not follow through on their obligations. I don’t know that he has any support on the county commission to do what he is doing.”

Stephens said the county jail is 85 percent full, and that adding misdemeanor city inmates would only add to the burden. He also said the arrangement manipulates the law and sets a new and expensive precedent that could cost the county.

“I worry about the county systems and how you’re going to do that,” he said. “They’re taking a city misdemeanor and are attempting to use a state statute that would correspond in order to house them in the county jail; they’re trying to get around the city ordinance that is designed for that. What’s going to keep Bessemer, Fairfield, Gardendale from saying, ‘Hey I want to do the same thing.’ It’s just bad. I hate that the city of Birmingham is shirking their responsibility of taking care of their prisoners.”

AL.com reporter Carol Robinson contributed to this report.