READING, Pa. – The Berks County Commissioners voted Thursday morning to adopt a resolution to authorize entering an intermunicipal cooperative agreement with Dauphin, Lackawanna, Lehigh, and Delaware Counties for a regional youth detention center at the site of the former Berks County Juvenile Detention Center.

The county administrative team has been working with the other counties to establish a regional youth detention center for many months.

Kevin S. Barnhardt, Chief Administrative Officer, reported that Dauphin, Lackawanna, and Delaware county officials signed the agreement earlier this month and that Lehigh is anticipated to sign in August.

“So we’re moving forward finally and want to thank our outside legal counsel, our internal legal counsel, as well as our team for all of their efforts,” Barnhardt said.

“We meet monthly with the other counties, and we’re really going to press forward to have a real opportunity for these children who need to be incarcerated, to keep the streets safe, as well as keep them safe, as well and really start their programming and activities for them in hopes that this thing is really going to take off. There’s a tremendous shortage of beds in this area of the county, the Commonwealth, and nationwide, and it is a real crisis. So really to come together with five counties is pretty darn amazing,” said Barnhardt.

County Commission Christian Y. Leinbach said it is important to emphasize that this is about minors who are involved in violent crimes.

“We’re not talking about shoplifting; these are violent crimes,” Leinbach said.

“And for women, right now, there’s no place for female minors in Pennsylvania. They’re sent either to Maryland or to Ohio. So, this is good, and this is good government in having five counties come together to do something jointly that likely one county couldn’t afford to do by itself,” he said.

Leinbach added that it addresses a critical issue because right now, there is no place to put the youth.

“They’re out with an ankle bracelet, and the District Attorney has told us in many cases they’re cutting the ankle bracelets off because they know there’s almost no consequences,” Leinbach said.

“We’re not ending; we’re in the early stages of a process and a lot that has to happen yet,” he added.

In another matter, the commissioners approved a resolution authorizing an agreement between the county and the September 11th National Memorial Trail Alliance for the installation of appropriate wayfinding signs on property owned by the county to assist visitors, bicyclists, and walkers in navigating the trail.

Leinbach explained the trail, which connects Pittsburgh, New York City, and Washington D.C., runs through a portion of Berks County by Stone Cliff Park, the Union Canal Trail, Gring’s Mill up to the Heritage Center and Blue Marsh.

“I’m curious to go on sections of the trail, but the exciting thing is that part of this national trail is right here in Berks County,” Leinbach noted.

September 11, 2026, will mark the 25th Anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks that took place at the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.