Westmoreland increases pay in move to reopen juvenile detention center

Westmoreland County’s shuttered juvenile detention center could reopen as early as next month, officials said Thursday.

The 16-bed detention program at the Regional Youth Services Center in Hempfield has been closed since early June amid staffing shortages and multiple state investigations.

New hires, along with an elevated pay scale approved this week by the county’s salary board, are expected to accelerate the reopening process, director Rich Gordon said.

“With the hiring practices taking time, by the end of the year, we should definitely be up and running. I’m hoping to be reopened sometime in October,” Gordon said.

The county commissioners, along with Controller Jeffrey Balzer, approved higher salaries for as many as 26 jobs, some vacant and others already filled.

Some jobs will see annual raises of more than $7,000 under the revised pay scale. Those raises were based on pay scales at other juvenile detention centers in Pennsylvania, officials said.

“We thought it was a fair step to take to help with recruitment and retention because, obviously, we had a problem,” Commissioner Ted Kopas said. “We need to make sure we’re finding ways to staff this facility and reopen it. This is an issue of public safety, and we have an obligation on our part to make sure this facility is reopened.”

Staffing has been the primary concern. Last month, just four active employees remained at the closed facility. Gordon said three additional staffers have since been hired. At least another three are needed to allow the detention center to again accept a limited number juvenile offenders.

An adjoining eight-bed shelter program for troubled youths remains open.

The raises will impact juvenile detention and shelter staffers. The center’s top administrators were not included in the pay package commissioners approved Thursday.

State inspectors said staffing issues this spring contributed to injuries suffered by two juvenile offenders and another physical confrontation with employees that investigators said nearly became a riot. A third probe identified allegations that an employee allowed a juvenile offender access to a vape pen.

The commissioners also hired a private company to help recruit candidates to fill jobs at the juvenile detention center and the Westmoreland County jail. The company will be paid $5,000 for every candidate it identifies who starts work at either facility.

Like the juvenile detention center, the jail is dealing with staffing shortages. Warden Bryan Kline said there are 37 vacant jobs at at the jail, which remains open and is fully operational.

While staffing at the juvenile center remains a concern, other safety measures are being addressed.

Commissioners approved a $961,000 contract to replace outdated security doors, some of which were installed when the juvenile center was built in 1979. The door project was planned prior to the center’s closing and is not expected to delay the facility’s reopening, Gordon said.

County leaders insist the juvenile detention center will reopen.

“We’re going to start hiring people and start to be very proactive here to get individuals at this facility,” Commissioner Sean Kertes said. “We need to work with our department heads and our HR department to make sure we did our due diligence and now they do their due diligence in finding people to work.”