Union County probation, mediation share county vehicle for reentry work

A Union County Ford Explorer is set to become a shared workhorse for reentry staff, giving Union County Adult Probation and Susquehanna Valley Mediation a single vehicle for jail visits, courthouse duties in Lewisburg and other trips tied to people cycling through the justice system.

Chief Probation Officer Scott Kerstetter said a vehicle-use agreement between the two agencies was expected to be finalized soon. The arrangement would let Susquehanna Valley Mediation use one of the department’s Ford Explorer vehicles for reentry work at the jail and for treatment-court responsibilities at the courthouse, a shift aimed at outreach and coordination rather than prisoner transport.

Kerstetter said the need is practical. Some prisoners are being housed in Columbia County Jail, which means staff are traveling to Bloomsburg as well as moving between Union and Snyder counties. The idea is to put a non-caged county vehicle in service when workers are meeting with people, keeping appointments and handling treatment-court travel instead of using resources built for custody transport.

The county says the deal would not cost taxpayers anything additional, a point that carries weight in a government budget where even routine mileage and vehicle use can add up. Officials are treating the arrangement as a way to stretch an existing asset farther without expanding spending.

Nick Osman, Susquehanna Valley Mediation’s Prison Reentry and Reintegration Coordinator, called the vehicle access a major blessing for the organization. SVM, founded in 2010, says it has no state funding and relies on fees, donations, fundraising, county support and program revenue to operate. WVIA reported in February 2024 that the organization’s annual operating budget was about $250,000.

The agency already has a sizable footprint in local reentry work. It says the newest edition of its guide, Reentering Your Community: A Guided Checklist for Prison Release, was printed in June 2025 by SVM and the Union-Snyder Community Action Agency. SVM also says it received $60,000 in Union County ARPA funds for prevention and diversion services in its Prison Reentry and Reintegration Program, and that its work is supported by Union and Snyder County courts and the probation department.

Commissioners Preston Boop and Jeff Reber backed the plan as a practical use of county resources. Boop described it as a way to improve programs by using county assets more efficiently, while Reber raised routine oversight questions about liability coverage and smoking or vaping rules in shared vehicles. The same network of partners has already built programs such as Families in Recovery with the Union and Snyder commissioners, the 17th District’s Treatment Court team and people impacted by opioid use disorder, making the vehicle agreement another small but concrete test of whether collaboration can improve reentry outcomes.