Berks County seeks $5 million in state capital for juvenile detention renovation after public asks for budget details

BERKS COUNTY, Pa. — The Berks County Board of Commissioners on May 21 authorized a resolution to seek $5,000,000 in state capital investment to support establishment and renovation of a regional juvenile detention facility in Berks County, part of a collaborative $25,000,000 request with Lehigh, Lackawanna, Delaware and Dauphin counties.

Chairman Leinbach read the measure into the record and emphasized the request covers capital work only. "I will note this is not about operations. It's about capital, to bring the facility up to the standard it needs to be in order to open the facility," he said.

The item drew at least one public comment. Crystal Kowalski, addressing the board during the public-comment period, asked whether a proposed budget for agenda item 153 "is available to the public," including details about the setting where children will live. "If there was a budget for that, I would like to see it," Kowalski said. The chair suggested making the request through a Right-to-Know request and noted there is nothing online.

Kevin Barnhart, the county's chief operations officer, told commissioners staff are still awaiting final engineering documentation and plan to send materials to an estimator to develop hard-cost figures before the county goes to bid. "At this point, we're still awaiting final documentation from the engineer, and then it's gonna be sent to an estimator," Barnhart said, adding the estimate will inform renovation costs.

The resolution asked the county's state legislative delegation to consider a $5,000,000 allocation for Berks as part of a broader $25,000,000 regional initiative to address Pennsylvania's juvenile detention bed shortage through shared facilities. The board materials specify the request is for capital investment and not for operating expenses.

Next steps described in the meeting: staff will finalize engineering documentation and obtain cost estimates before bidding renovation work; the county will transmit the letter to members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly. The board approved the meeting agenda and proceeded with other items on the docket; no final contract award or construction authorization was recorded in the meeting minutes.

The board adjourned at the close of its agenda.