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Moving Children and Youth Next Door

POTTSVILLE — Some office space on North Centre Street in Pottsville will soon be home to a Schuylkill County agency. Right now, Children and Youth Service...

POTTSVILLE -- Some office space on North Centre Street in Pottsville will soon be home to a Schuylkill County agency.

Right now, Children and Youth Services is in the Human Services Building, but by the end of January the agency will move.

"It's a building that I think will serve Schuylkill County very well for the next 30, 40 years," said Schuylkill County Commissioner Frank Staudenmeier.

Schuylkill County bought the building two years ago. Between the purchase and renovation by local contractors, it cost about $ 2.3 million.

The new building is almost double the size of Children and Youth's current office space.

"There are three floors, about 7,000 square feet per floor," said contractor Rick Yutko with WPG Engineers.

In 1986, Children and Youth Services moved into its current building.

There were only about 30 employees then. Now, there are about 100, and soon they'll be moving next door.

Two Children and Youth employees checked out their future workspace.

"The old office that we're at, it's very small. It's very compact. People on top of each other. Clients on top of each other when they come. So I think this is going to be much better," said Anne Kelly, a Children and Youth employee.

Denise Pozza said, "I think it will be a lot more organized and I also think it will really help with morale."

It's a morale boost the county agency could use during a budget impasse.

Commissioners say Schuylkill County has already had to dip into its reserve fund to make sure employees are getting paid and services are performed.

"That reserve fund is dwindling very quickly and we're encouraging all of our legislators to get this done," said Staudenmeier.

Commissioners say lawmakers in Harrisburg need to pass a budget before employees move into the new building in January.

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