Reading >> Berks County Commissioner Kevin Barnhardt did not require any pomp and circumstance when he quietly stepped into election season. Seeking his third term, the Democrat simply stated that he would like to continue working on the projects he has in the pipeline.
“Politicians get a bad rap. There is a majority of people who want to do what’s right for the community. I see more of them than the people who make the paper, who get into trouble,” Barnhardt said. “When you do it right, you don’t do it for the glory.”
After eight years as a commissioner, Barnhardt has learned a lot about the less-than-glorious parts of the job. Along the way, however, he has gained some accomplishments of which he is proud.
Barnhardt counts the merger of Berks Area Regional Transportation Authority and the Red Rose Transit Authority and other financial strides within the county among that list.
“I see the role as being a facilitator, an advocate for the best interests of the community,” he said.
For Barnhardt, working with the community is nearly as important as working for them, he said. Some of the day-to-day obligations of the job end in small victories that may only help one or two people, but he remembers those victories well.
For example, he recounted personally walking a Berks County resident through getting her mother placed into the county’s nursing home.
“It’s important that we don’t miss the big picture. It’s about the people,” he said.
Barnhardt also stresses his work with the other commissioners and the county government’s department heads as vital to getting things done in Berks.
Barnhardt shakes off the implications of being the only Democrat on the three-member board, and said the current group of commissioners works together “extremely well.”
“We may come from different points of view, but this job is unique. We’re not here making political decisions. We provide services,” he said.
As he seeks another term, he hopes to spend the next four years working on economic development in the county. Courting employers to set up shop in Berks County is a priority.
“Government doesn’t create jobs. It fosters the environment for folks to stay here, to relocate here and to build businesses and homes here,” Barnhardt said. “What will keep people here is good jobs.”
Another priority for the lifelong Berks County resident is to work on establishing better programs for those incarcerated in county prison with mental health issues. He recently met with officials in Philadelphia to discuss how the city’s system processes those in the criminal justice system due to mental illness. Barnhardt hopes to team with neighboring counties to build a facility for such individuals.
“There will be a cost on the front end, but benefits in the back end,” he said.
Before becoming a county commissioner, Barnhardt served as mayor and councilman in West Reading. He also spent 30 years in private industry management. After two terms on the Berks County board, he believes that there is still plenty of work ahead for him as a commissioner.
“I’ll reach a point where I know I’m done. But I still have the same passion that I did in 2008. Sometimes I have even more passion, now that, as they say, I know where the men’s room is. I know how things get done,” Barnhardt said.
The other two incumbent commissioners, Republicans Christian Leinbach and Mark Scott, have also announced plans to seek new terms. Another Democrat, Don Vymazal, 63, Greenwich Township, who is retiring from a management position with Air Products in Allentown, recently announced his candidacy for commissioner. Vymazal served 14 years on the Kutztown Area School Board.
The annual salary of a Berks County commissioner is $90,260.
