Child care service exits Pike County

By Charles Reynolds

MILFORD — Parents in Pike County who need help with child care will have to travel to Hawley next year, with the closing of the Child Care Information Services office in Shohola on June 30.

The Pike County Commissioners said at their year-end meeting that the state is consolidating services and put its contract with the commissioners out to bid, Child Care Information Services (CCIS) offices in Wayne, Pike, and Susquehanna Counties will merge into one unit to be administered by the non-profit agency Northeast Childcare Services, which is in final negotiations with state procurement office. The Pike CCIS is funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare through a contract with the county commissioners.

CCIS helps parents obtain child care subsidies and information, cash assistance, medical care, and food stamps, among other services. It provides its services to all families regardless of income, age, race, religion, or disability.

Pike County CCIS director Jill Gamboni said she put together a bid to keep the services based in Pike. But it wasn't enough for the state, which mostly favored non-profits over county-run programs, she said.

“What it means for Pike County is that the residents that are being served for childcare will no longer have an office in Pike County," Gamboni said.

The Wayne County office will be difficult for some clients to reach, especially those without transportation in the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program.

"It will be quite a hardship, for instance, for clients from Bushkill to go out to Hawley,” said Gamboni.

Gamboni said the commissioners have “graciously offered" Northeast Childcare space here in Pike to meet with clients. Although the offer was “well received” by Northeast Childcare, she said, it is not a certainty.

Indirect costs to the county will add up to about $30,000 to $35,000, and could even be as high as $55,000. Three staff members will be also losing their jobs after the July 1, 2013, contract start date. Also, the status of three Pike CCIS-run programs are up in the air. Permanent child car seat-fitting stations, the Cribs For Kids' program, and the Reality Tour drug prevention program may end up on the chopping block.

“Jill has worked assiduously for nine months to a year" to make a successful bid package, said Commissioner Rich Caridi. “I think the decision was preordained to go to non-profits in order to save the state money.”

Caridi said the personal touch clients currently receive from Gamboni and her team will be lost. Where local residents are now served by Gamboni and her three local staffers, he said, they will be served by “one and a half” Northeast Childcare representatives from other counties.

In other business

Appreciation for an outgoing public servant: Susan Beecher, the outgoing executive director of the Pike County Conservation District, was at odds with the commissioners from time to time. But she received much appreciation from the commissioners at their year-end meeting. “She has really, really done a great job for the conservation district,” said Karl Wagner, who has known Beecher her whole life. “She's going to be dearly missed.” Beecher served for 23 years, changing only her title, from director to executive director, during that time.

Transportation director retires: With the quiet retirement of Keith Raser as Director of Pike County Transportation – effective Nov. 30 – Christine Kerstetter has been assigned to a temporary interim position to oversee the department. Kerstetter will also continue in her role as Executive Director of the county's Human Development.

Upcoming meetings: The next public meeting for the Pike County Commissioners will take place on Jan. 16 at 9 a.m.. There will be a reorganization meeting on Monday Jan. 7, where the commissioners will determine who will handle what committee and responsibility during the coming year.