Berks County commissioners approve agenda, review finances and appointments; Constellation introduces Limerick liaison and emergency exercise

Berks County Commissioner Christian Linebach opened the Nov. 6 board meeting, reading routine announcements and noting the session was broadcast on Microsoft Teams and BCTV. After the Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of silence, the board approved the Oct. 30 minutes and a motion to adopt the meeting agenda.

The county treasurer, Mitch Darkwort, reported an opening balance of $242,392,032.32, a balance to clear of $2,865,174.11 and a resulting balance of $239,526,858.21. Controller Joe Rutterow told the board accounts payable for the week were $16,067,035.71 and payroll totaled $5,453,908.34, for combined cash disbursements of $21,520,944.05.

Linebach reviewed the agenda’s substantive items. The board was asked to adopt 2025 budget transfers totaling $136,890 and appropriations of $232,647 (listing dated Oct. 31, 2025). The purchasing item listed a recommendation to award a contract for medical-grade oxygen to Roberts Oxygen Company of Rockville, Maryland, with an estimated annual expenditure of $67,417.44.

The commissioners also listed multiple Area Agency on Aging reappointments and appointments for two-year terms ending 12/31/2027, including Jamie Baez Jr. (Reading), Sandy Grafias (municipality within Pennsylvania not specified in the transcript), Christina Gingrich (Reading), Linda Groff (Reading) and Zuleima Villalba (Reading).

Under commissioners’ items, Linebach referenced several departmental authorizations: submission of a County Early Intervention Services report to the Commonwealth’s Department of Human Services; acceptance of HealthChoices program capitation rates as listed in the agenda; and a resolution rescinding Resolution No. 80-2022 to permit Berks County Planning Commission staff to execute master planning work orders through the period listed in the agenda. (The agenda text contains some date strings that appear to be transcription errors; the transcript lists calendar dates as 01/01/1926–12/31/1926 and work order authority through 06/30/1928.)

Commissioner Michael Rivera thanked elections staff and poll workers, reporting that turnout for the recent municipal election was 38% and noting close, unresolved races with provisional ballots to be counted. Rivera also announced a town hall on Nov. 12 at the Muhlenberg Community Library and said the Center for Excellence in Local Government is hiring an executive director.

Commissioner Dante Santoni highlighted environmental and community events, citing a statistic that "North America has lost 29% of its birds, nearly 3,000,000,000 birds since 1970," congratulated retiring Berks Nature president Kim Murphy and noted a ribbon-cutting for a new playground at the Lighthouse Women & Children’s Center.

During the public-comment portion, Tyler Arpenson, local government affairs manager for Constellation Energy, introduced himself and described Constellation’s role operating Limerick Station. Arpenson said the company will participate in a full emergency tabletop exercise on Nov. 18 that tests county and municipal response and is reviewed by a federal agency; he offered to coordinate plant tours for commissioners and leadership. "Safety is number one," he said, adding that the drills include county and municipal responders and are graded by federal officials.

The meeting ended after Linebach confirmed there were no online comments and adjourned.

Next steps: the board’s agenda included several resolutions, contract awards and reappointments listed for formal adoption; the transcript records the items presented but does not include recorded roll-call votes or separate formal approvals for each listed resolution in this meeting record.