(PHOTO BY BRENNA WHITE / THE VILLAGE REPORTER)
CENTER FOR CHILD AND FAMILY ADVOCACY … Executive Director Roberta Mack (right) and Advocate Charla Young (left) explain more about the Center for Child and Family Advocacy program, and how they have been serving Williams County for over nine years.
By: Brenna White
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
The Williams County Commissioners met in the Commissioners’ Session Room on July 29, 2025, for their regularly scheduled Tuesday meeting.
Beginning at 9:00 a.m., the meeting opened with the Pledge of Allegiance and roll call. Commissioner President Terry Rummel, Vice Scott Lirot, and Bart Westfall were all in attendance.
After approving the previous meeting’s minutes and the payment of bills, the Commissioners moved on to New Business. Supplemental funding requests for the commissioner’s office, the Department of Aging, Job and Family Services, and the Sheriff’s Office were passed with no contest.
It was noted that the $500,000 transfer of funds to JFS was an internal shuffling of unappropriated money within the department and was not related to the recently proposed contract involving upfront coverage from the county.
A grant agreement was entered with the Four County ADAMHs Board for Fiscal Year 2026. This involves an amount of $12,000 for the Parent Coordination Program between the ADAMHs Board and the Williams County Common Pleas Court. The term limit is July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026.
An additional IV-E Contract for the purpose of child placement for JFS with OhioMHAS, Young Star Academy, LLC, at a cost not to exceed $11,267 with a term limit of June 17, 2025, to July 7, 2025, was noted.
“Title IV-E is state-related, so it’s most likely lining up with the state’s fiscal year, which starts in July,” Rummel explained.
“Is it worth it to approve a contract that has already expired?” Lirot asked. “Is it a little odd? Yes,” answered Administrator Vond Hall.
“I have seen IV-E enough to know that it’s done, and done right, and it’s important to us to fund the placement of children,” Rummel states.
The board ultimately approved said contract. An extra amendment was added by Clerk Anne Retcher. A permit to work within County Township Road right-of-ways was approved under Pearce Service, on behalf of Frontier Communications.
Common Pleas Judge Rhonda L. Fisher sent an official order recognizing adopted policies to the Commissioners.
This letter stated that she will be adopting personnel policies and a procedure manual as established by the commissioner’s Resolution 25-184.
At 9:30 a.m., the Health Department provided an update on recent programs and general affairs. Oscar Hernandez III, Health Commissioner, and Shannon Trausch, Environmental Health Tech and Recycling Coordinator, were in attendance.
A reported average of $130,000 in expenditures for the Solid Waste District is annually received through the Health Department. A further look into waste removal taxes and rates is still to be discussed in the future for residents of Williams County.
The safe removal of household hazardous waste products has been the focus of the Health Department this year.
This includes a variety of different items, such as paint, batteries, and household cleaning chemicals. August 19, 2025, marks another opportunity for locals to safely dispose of said items.
The Department also mentioned that they plan to have another electronic waste recycling event and a Christmas light recycling event – dates to be determined. A discussion involving state regulation of septic tanks was touched upon with the Commissioners.
The state requires septic tanks to be cleaned up to every ten years, but the safety recommendation remains every three to five years. A $60 permit fee is required every five years by the county as well.
“Can we get the permit to lengthen out to ten years to help our residents not go through that situation?” Rummel asked.
“When we heard about the state limit of ten years, we thought maybe we could get some relief for our residents,” he continued.
“The idea that this routine maintenance will help avoid major repairs later on,” Hernandez explained. The maintenance of a system often remains cheaper than an unchecked system that might need to be fully replaced later on.
This will be looked into further by the Department, though they reminded the commissioners that the ten-year limit by the state is the maximum time period allowed.
At 10:00 a.m., a meeting was held with the Executive Director, Roberta Mack, and Charla Young of the Center for Child & Family Advocacy (CCFA). Mack gave a brief overview of the CCFA’s mission, what services they offer, and improvements they hope to make in the future.
The CCFA is a nonprofit organization based in Napoleon, Ohio, serving Defiance, Fulton, Henry, Paulding, and Williams counties.
Their mission is to empower families and victims of crime to be safer, stronger, and to get them the support they need. They have been in operation for nine years and remain “evidence-based and trauma-informed.”
While also operating out of the Henry County Children’s Advocacy Center, children and victims who have experienced abuse can receive forensic interviews and the medical help they need from trained professionals.
One of CCFA’s core functions is its mental health counseling program, which offers individual, couple, family, group, and home-based therapy.
Services are available for children, adolescents, and adults regardless of income. In the future, they hope to have more nurses join their staff so they can combat the 400% in requested exams.
“We just wanted to continue to educate and be present. I appreciate the commissioner’s support,” thanked Executive Director Mack.
At 10:30 a.m. a special visitor joined the commissioners via Zoom call – retired Supreme Court of Ohio Judge, Evelyn Stratton.
Stratton served as a justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio from March 7, 1996, to December 31, 2012. After retiring from the court, she continued reform work as the leader of “Stepping Up Ohio.”
Stepping Up is a national initiative launched in 2015 by the National Association of Counties to help reduce the number of people with mental illnesses in local jails.
By utilizing sheriff and jail administrators, courts, behavioral-health providers, and community partners, they plan to identify repeat offenders with mental illnesses in jail and divert them to treatment when appropriate.
This process not only gets “frequent flyers” the actual help they need, but the initiative is also aimed at reducing the county jail-time costs. Over 550 counties across the country have joined, with a total of 65 in Ohio alone.
“We are inundated with this,” Rummel stated. “We have a big need for this. The jailing of these people is just a small piece of the problem.”
The commissioners moved to approve a resolution to join the Stepping Up program, leading the way in our surrounding counties for this movement.
With no further business to attend, the meeting adjourned at 10:58 a.m.