By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Child support services in the county will proceed as usual after the agency is merged into the Department of Job and Family Services.
The Wood County Commissioners voted Tuesday morning to notify the state of its intent to merge the offices. The change will become effective on April 1. The state requires the 90-day notice.
County Administrator Andrew Kalmar said that only a few counties in the state maintain stand-alone child support enforcement agencies. Both the agency and the department get their rules and regulations from the state Department of Job and Family Services, he said. Over the course of the last 20 or so years, many have folded their child support agencies into Job and Family Services.
Kalmar said while the agency will become a division of Job and Family Services, cases will continue to go through the agency’s staff and will be handled the same way as they have been. “It shouldn’t change anything at all,” he said. “It may change the name at the top of the letterhead.”
The change was tied to the impending retirement of the agency director Frank McLaughlin, who has held that position since 1993, just five years after a federal mandate created the offices.
For several years there’s been discussion about merging the entities once McLaughlin retired.
The move is simply a matter of business. It should result in some cost savings, Kalmar said.
McLaughlin said his separation date is Jan. 31, but he will continue to work a few days a week until the merger is complete.
McLaughlin, who has worked for the county since 1979, said that the agencies had “a lot of startup problems that lasted for years. … There were a lot of problems, a lot of consumer complaints. Nobody was ready for it.” These issues were reported in the press. Now, he said, “it’s quiet.”
Unlike other social service agencies, Child Support Enforcement is not need based.
The agency is charged with making sure mandated child support is paid, so personnel are working with people who are involved with the program “whether they like it or not.”
The caseload is about 7,000. That’s been constant, McLaughlin said. “I have to say most of the people who are required to pay, pay without anybody chasing them around.”
Over the years the number of cases involving parents who are not married has “creeped” up, now accounting for almost half the caseload. That’s true nationwide.
The biggest change has been the computerization of the operation, which has increased the efficiency of the agency.
Kalmar noted that in the last 15 years, the agency’s staff has decreased from 37 to 25. There will be no cuts because of the merger.
McLaughlin said his perception is the consumer service is a top priority for the commissioners.
The staff has done “a terrific job” with McLaughlin providing “great leadership,” Kalmar said.
McLaughlin shared that assessment of the agency staff. There’s been very little turnover, he said, and that’s enabled the office to operate in a lean and efficient way without the having to constantly train new employees.
