Agency director pleased with RCCSB appointments

Richland County Children Services Randy Parker said he was pleased Wednesday with the decision by county commissioners to retain two current agency board members, increase the number of board seats from nine to 11 and make appointments to bring the expanded board up to full strength.

Commissioners approved resolutions reappointing members Nancy Joyce and Dean Wells to four-year terms, appointing Richland County Chief Probation Officer Dave Leitenberger to fill an unexpired term left open by a resignation, and appointing Dave Metzger and Pam Siegenthaler to the two new seats.

A former Ontario council president, Metzger was appointed to a two-year term. Siegenthaler, former Richland County Foundation president, was appointed for one year.

The following is a statement released by Parker after the meeting.

“We thank the Richland County Board of Commissioners for their decision today in returning Nancy Joyce and Dean Wells to the Children Services Board. Both of these individuals are outstanding, long-time area residents who have invested a great deal of time and effort in this community and deserve the opportunity to continue to serve. Their retention is positive news for local children and families

 “We also congratulate the new members of our board selected by the commissioners today. We look forward to making them feel welcome and beginning the orientation process that will bring them up to speed with the agency’s operations and activities.

 “The new board members will benefit from the hard work done by the previous board, including the passage of a balanced agency budget in 2011. The Richland County Children Services Board announced several months ago it will forego the collection of $1 million in local property taxes in 2011. The board then made the hard decisions necessary to balance the agency budget despite the decline in annual revenue. The board made the decision to forego the tax collection to allow local residents to keep more of their own money during these troubled economic times.

“We are glad this board selection process has been concluded. We will continue the hard work we do on a daily basis helping families and children in Richland County. We are now concluding the busiest year in the 127-year history of the agency in terms of investigating child abuse/neglect cases and in providing ongoing services to nearly  700 families and 1,500 children in Richland County.”