Boone: Knox County workforce is ‘a puzzling world’ these days

MOUNT VERNON — As director of Knox County Job & Family Services, Scott Boone knows firsthand the uncertainty facing the local workforce.

“The workforce is a puzzling world these days,” Boone told the county commissioners on Thursday, referencing Workforce Administrator Brandy Booth’s comments last month about federal funding cuts.

“You heard Brandy talk last month about the 69% cuts to adult funding, and the 53% cuts to youth funding. That’s going to potentially compromise some of the programming that we’re offering to the community.”

However, Boone said JFS is getting more creative in terms of shifting child care and other things to ensure that they are readily available to Knox County families.

Boone and Booth are involved in meetings and discussions at the state level. Changes are occurring as the state goes through succession planning for John Trott, executive director of the Greater Ohio Workforce Board. Trott is retiring.

“There are a lot of unknowns that we’re receiving in terms of messaging that make it difficult for us to plan our budget.”

Scott Boone, executive director of Knox County Job & Family Services

“Moving forward, I think into the middle of next year and hopefully through the remainder of 2026, we’ll have some things figured out,” Boone said.

“Beyond that, I really couldn’t say other than we’re sort of preparing for some worst-case scenarios. We’ll still deliver services timely and efficiently as we’re accustomed to, but … we can’t bank on any promises or assurances that we’ll have X amount in this pot moving forward from a financial perspective,” he said.

Public assistance

The public assistance division received 384 family applications for its annual back-to-school voucher program.

Of the 880 vouchers issued, three families could not pick theirs up. Four families did not redeem the vouchers.

Vendors included Marshalls, Gabriel’s, Shoe Sensation, and 777. Marshalls received $72,006.57 worth of vouchers.

The total value redeemed was $128,529.44, less than the amount redeemed in 2024.

Boone said the alleged fraud that occurred in 2024 might have dissuaded families from applying. Additionally, JFS will be more aggressive in advertising on social media in 2026.

Commissioner Bill Pursel requested a breakdown by school district to ensure the program serves all areas of the county.

Placement costs high in children’s services

Boone said JFS is still “hemorrhaging a bit” from placement costs. Acknowledging the commissioners’ $500,000 contribution to help cover placement costs, Boone said the contribution is not sustainable long term.

As of Wednesday, JFS had 57 children in its custody. Nineteen are kinship placements, and 11 are in JFS-licensed foster homes.

“We have licensed about 30 total [foster homes]. The advantage of us licensing our own homes is that it keeps our kids in our community,” he said.

“Placement costs are reduced, and we find that the reunifications occur more quickly.”

The remainder are in therapeutic foster care, residential facilities, and group homes.

One youth is in Florida. Boone expects her to stay there for another year or two until she ages out of custody.

Booth said youths 16 and older are typically the agency’s highest cost per placement.

However, as of Wednesday, the agency’s highest placement cost is two nonverbal 4-year-old autistic children with severe behavioral challenges. Each one costs JFS $495 a day.

JFS has three children in permanent custody, which means that the parental rights in custody have been severed. Those decisions are pending in juvenile court.

Boone said the agency is preparing to file permanent custody motions for two other children.

“It’s always awful when kids can’t go home safely,” Boone said. “Part of our job is to find and secure alternative permanent arrangements for them to grow up and prosper and be lucrative parts of our community, so in those cases, that’s where the adoption piece fits in.”

JFS: Rethinking its way of doing business

Boone said budget concerns include the shared-cost format. Traditionally, the agency uses money from public assistance and child support as its shared cost.

Historically, the state has been flexible about those reimbursements.

“The messaging we’re getting now is that that will go away,” Boone said.

“So we’ll have to keep those balances current and active. That will present a challenge for us just because it’s a different way of doing business fiscally.”

Boone noted JFS had a deficit five years ago. The agency’s priority was to eliminate that deficit.

“We’ve put a great deal of emphasis on performance incentives where if we meet certain performance objectives … we get incentive money. We put that toward our budget, and that’s helped a great deal,” he told the commissioners.

“We’ll continue to do that, and we’ll continue to explore other funding through grants and things like that. But I’m telling you that without your support and some of these other things that we’ve attempted to take advantage of, we’d be having a much more dire conversation.”

With stricter state monitoring of allocations, projections and costs, JFS will have to adjust its approach to spending and revenue generation when working with other administrators.

“Obviously we don’t make money, but there are ways for us to get inter-county transfers, for example. … A lot of times, we’re very successful, and sometimes everybody’s out of pocket,” he said.

“I am very mindful of that, and moving forward, I know we have to continue to be responsible and creative in terms of what we do with our money.

“Nobody’s on the ledge today, but I have a lot of work to do to make sure that that doesn’t happen moving forward.”

Booth said the community has a misconception that JFS receives a monetary incentive to bring children into its care.

“I don’t want your children involved in our agency if they don’t have to be,” he said. “We will help if that’s what’s necessary. But we’re not driving down Coshocton Avenue looking to put kids in foster care.”

Making use of a renovated Opportunity Knox

JFS explored acquiring a renter following recent renovations to the Opportunity Knox building at 17604 Coshocton Road. However, the potential renter could not manage the financial arrangements.

JFS decided to use the space for children’s services visitations. Boone said it was better than a sterile office environment and was quieter.

Plus, there is green space and trails where children can play outside.

Also on Thursday, the commissioners accepted the 2024 annual report for the Knox County Sheriff’s Office and the August report for the Knox County Dog Shelter. Both reports are below.