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Berks County commissioners present budget transfers, personnel promotions and emergency procurement on Nov. 13 agenda
Summary
At the Nov. 13 meeting, the Berks County Board of Commissioners listed $52,563 in 2025 budget transfers and $801,213 in appropriations, proposed several personnel promotions and appointments, and introduced an emergency procurement resolution related to driveway and parking‑lot remediation; the agenda was approved by voice vote.
BERKS COUNTY, Pa. — The Berks County Board of Commissioners met Nov. 13 in person and via Microsoft Teams, where the chair presented a packed agenda that included proposed budget adjustments, several personnel promotions and appointments, and an emergency procurement declaration for county driveway and parking‑lot repairs.
The board’s first substantive item listed a resolution authorizing 2025 budget transfers of $52,563 and 2025 appropriations of $801,213, per the schedule dated Nov. 7, 2025. The agenda also included three personnel items in the human resources section: a proposal to promote Amanda Helbert from paralegal to open records officer/paralegal in the solicitor’s office; a proposal to promote Jessica (Jesse) Blauser from executive assistant to chief clerk/executive assistant (a new salary‑board position); and a proposed promotion of Lauren Howard from county caseworker 2 to county caseworker supervisor 1 in Children & Youth Services. The chair publicly congratulated the employees named on the agenda.
The commissioners’ slate further listed appointment and reappointment items, including the proposed reappointment of John J. D. Turner to the Berks County Parks and Recreation Board through Dec. 31, 2029, and corrections to workforce development board appointment end dates for Kimberly Schneider and Dr. Radha Piati as described on the agenda.
The agenda included several intergovernmental and grant‑related resolutions: a proposed intergovernmental cooperation agreement for a Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) steering committee to meet educational requirements for MS4 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits, authorization to execute workforce development board grant documents and Labor & Industry forms, and a requested letter of support for Opportunity House’s application to the Pennsylvania Housing Affordability and Rehabilitation Enhancement program for its “Hero Hill” project in partnership with the county Veterans Affairs office.
Separately, Item g on the agenda proposed declaring an emergency to allow remediation and repairs to a county driveway, access area and parking lot, explicitly waiving procurement law requirements and ratifying purchase orders and COO authorizations already issued by the director of contracts and procurement and the chief operations officer.
A contracts agenda dated Nov. 10, 2025 was listed with 13 contracts across multiple departments (five with Children & Youth Services and others with juvenile probation, the coroner, emergency services, facilities, the county jail and Parks & Recreation). The chair also placed items to authorize payments for the week ending Nov. 14, 2025 and payroll disbursements dated Nov. 18, 2025 on the agenda.
Commissioner Dante Santoni moved to approve the agenda “as presented”; Chair Christian Linebach seconded. After a voice vote the motion carried.
What happens next: most of the listed items appeared as agenda resolutions and presentations rather than recorded roll‑call votes in the meeting transcript. The agenda indicates the board intended to act on the items; where the transcript did not record formal votes on specific resolutions, the status is not specified in the audio record. Additional detail or formal vote records are expected in later minutes or in the county’s official resolution postings.
