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The annual cost to run it is estimated at 10.5 million dollars, with each county paying 2.6 million.<\/p>\n
Other commissioners expressed concerns about the long-term commitment and potential costs.<\/p>\n
Commissioner Jon Irons questioned the 20-year agreement, noting that the needs of young people and communities can change over time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that the challenges facing young people in this community are ever-changing,\u201d Irons said. \u201cWe have to see a way forward that is not looking backward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Commissioner Sarah Fevig said a shorter agreement might offer more flexibility.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it were five years, it gives us flexibility as a county,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
County Executive Josh Siegel previously said the need for a publicly operated regional facility became clearer after challenges working with existing providers, including the Abraxis detention facility in Berks County.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbraxis is a not-for-profit detention operation that has a lot of troubling issues,\u201d Siegel said previously, citing licensing concerns and other operational problems.<\/p>\n
Commissioner Ron Beitler also addressed issues regarding privatized detention facilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf all the things that should not be privatized, it is detention,\u201d Beitler said.<\/p>\n
According to county documents, the regional facility is also intended to address a statewide shortage of juvenile detention beds that has forced some counties to release youths who would otherwise be detained.<\/p>\n
Siegel said declining juvenile detention numbers also factored into the regional model. In Lehigh County, an average of about five youths per day require detention.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur diversion program has been so successful that we didn\u2019t need a facility with 100-plus beds,\u201d Siegel previously said. \u201cThe more that we can keep kids at home and housed in their own community with their family and divert them from detention, the better.\u201d<\/p>\n
President Judge Douglas G. Reichley said county participation in a new facility could help regulate costs while providing a safer option for juveniles.<\/p>\n
Officials said discussions about the regional agreement have been underway for about two years.<\/p>\n
Some speakers during public comment on Wednesday urged commissioners to slow the process and explore alternatives closer to home.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s better to keep them home and keep them close,\u201d said criminal defense attorney Ettore \u201cEd\u201d Angelo.<\/p>\n
Resident Sharon Finnegan also urged caution.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s give this time,\u201d she said. \u201cThere are other choices than detention.\u201d<\/p>\n
The proposed facility would be located at a Berks County-owned site on County Welfare Road in Leesport. Renovation and operating costs would be split among Berks, Lehigh, Dauphin and Lackawanna counties.<\/p>\n
The Southeast Youth Detention Agency would be governed by a 12-member council representing the participating counties.<\/p>\n
Commissioners are scheduled to hold a final reading and vote on the ordinance on April 22.<\/p>\n
Paid parental leave<\/p>\n
A paid parental leave policy for county employees also had its first reading on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The measure would provide for an eight-week paid parental leave policy to eligible employees \u201cto allow new parents to have time to bond with their child,\u201d according to county documents.<\/p>\n
The policy is intended not only to help county employees but to aid in county employee retention and recruitment efforts.<\/p>\n
Appointments<\/p>\n
In other business on Wednesday, commissioners confirmed several appointments, including Ara Barlieb and Briana Gaumer to the Aging and Adult Services Advisory Council, Vicky Kistler to the Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority, Vijay Singh to the Lehigh County Authority, Joshua Bridges as director of Human Services and Jeffrey Smith as Warden II of the Department of Corrections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALLENTOWN, Pa. \u2013 The Lehigh County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday introduced an ordinance that would approve an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":162041,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[73173,119,121,120,349,852,73174,73172,16438,73171,50983,433,2149,28,40308,73170,73169],"class_list":{"0":"post-162040","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-allentown","8":"tag-aging-and-adult-services-advisory-council","9":"tag-allentown","10":"tag-allentown-headlines","11":"tag-allentown-news","12":"tag-berks-county","13":"tag-county-executive","14":"tag-dan-hartzell","15":"tag-director-of-human-services","16":"tag-josh-siegel","17":"tag-joshua-bridges","18":"tag-lehigh-and-northampton-transportation-authority","19":"tag-lehigh-county","20":"tag-lehigh-county-board-of-commissioners","21":"tag-pennsylvania","22":"tag-sarah-fevig","23":"tag-sharon-finnegan","24":"tag-southeast-youth-detention-agency"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}