Berks County Adds $113K Jail Deputy Warden Among 5 Hires

The Berks County Board of Commissioners met Thursday, September 17, 2026, and cleared five hires and promotions, most of them at the county jail, led by a new Deputy Warden of Custody at $113,000 a year. The board also took another step toward buying the office tower at 600 Penn Street, approving an escrow agreement that sets up how the county's deposit will be held, a step tracked on our 600 Penn Street tracker. As it does at every meeting, the board approved its full agenda in a single block vote.

Five hires, most at the county jail

Resolution 281.2026 approved five personnel actions, four of them tied to the county jail and the Sheriff's Office. The largest is a new Deputy Warden of Custody for the Berks County Jail System at $113,000 a year, effective October 1. The resolution also promoted a jail employee to sergeant at $82,531, hired a jail payroll support worker at $51,000, named an interim captain in the Sheriff's Office at $85,764, and hired a certified legal intern in the District Attorney's Office at $59,500. The county's listing states each hire meets the criteria of its hiring policy.

An escrow agreement for the 600 Penn tower

Resolution 284.2026 authorized the county to sign an Earnest Money Escrow Agreement with 600 Penn Street, LP, the seller, and First American Abstract, which will act as the escrow agent. Escrow is money a neutral third party holds during a deal, releasing it only when the terms are met. This agreement is the mechanism for holding the $500,000 deposit the county set aside on September 3 toward the purchase.

The move is a step toward closing, not the closing itself. The agenda lists no purchase price, no closing date, and no dollar amount for the escrow deposit. Berks signed a $7.235 million letter of intent this summer to buy the former Wells Fargo tower as swing space while the aging courthouse is repaired, but that July figure has not been confirmed as the final sale price, and the county has not made a closing date public. The background is in our report on the 600 Penn Street purchase and in our preview of this meeting.

A bond for Penn State Health, not county debt

Resolution 279.2026 approved, under a federal tax rule, a bond that the Cumberland County Municipal Authority plans to issue for the benefit of Penn State Health. This is a conduit bond, an arrangement in which a government authority issues tax-exempt debt on behalf of a private organization, which repays it. The resolution states the approval "shall not in any way pledge or obligate the credit or taxing power of the county." Berks is not borrowing the money, is not guaranteeing it, and is not liable if it is not repaid. The county's sign-off is required because federal law asks that an elected board hold a hearing and approve tax-exempt bonds that benefit projects in its area. Penn State Health's bond counsel presented the item before the vote.

Budget moves, grants, and child-welfare paperwork

Most of the rest of the agenda was the routine machinery of county government.

Resolution 280.2026 made two small budget changes: it moved $19,583 between wage accounts in the Juvenile Probation Office to match a grant allocation, and it appropriated $3,500 to fix a water service line a contractor damaged at Stonecliffe Park. The county expects to be reimbursed for the repair.

Resolutions 282.2026 and 283.2026 authorized grant filings with the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency for treatment programs run through the Adult Probation Office. Resolution 285.2026 approved a memorandum of understanding with the Pennsylvania Social Services Union over a county Caseworker III position. Resolution 286.2026 authorized a letter of support for a renovation grant the Boone Area Library is seeking. Resolution 287.2026 authorized Children and Youth Services to sign letters of agreement with the state's physical-health managed-care organizations, subject to the solicitor's review.

Contracts: child advocates and placement rates

The contract listing, dated September 14, included an amendment worth up to $510,675 with the Court of Common Pleas for guardian ad litem services. A guardian ad litem is a court-appointed advocate who represents a child's legal interests in child-welfare cases. The listing also set per-day placement rates the county pays to house young people in its care, including $767.54 a day for secure detention at George Junior Republic and a range of lower daily rates at other providers.

Smaller items on the same listing included an emerging-adults guide for the probation office at up to $15,000, a clinical-messaging system for Berks Heim at up to $10,896, Samsara hardware and licenses at up to $33,202, a Microsoft subscription at up to $3,980, and two vision-benefit agreements that carry no cost to the county.

How the vote worked

Berks commissioners approve their agenda as a single block rather than voting on each resolution one by one. The meeting video runs the meeting in order: the call to order, presentations, the approval of the agenda about 58 minutes in, reports from the Treasurer and Controller, commissioners' comments, and public comment. The county had not posted written minutes of the September 17 meeting at publication. The minutes, approved at the next meeting, record each commissioner's vote and any abstention, and we will update this recap if they differ from the agenda as presented.

The next commissioners' board meeting is scheduled for Thursday, September 24, at 10 a.m. at the Berks County Services Center, 633 Court Street, Reading. For how these meetings run and how to speak at one, see our guide to watching.