T-L Photo/ROBERT A. DEFRANK The Belmont County Board of Commissioners Wednesday recognized the child support staff of the Belmont County Department of Job and Family Services for Child Support Awareness Month. First row: Supervisor Karia Hunkler, David Badia, retiring administrator, Director Vince Gianangeli, Common Pleas Judge John Vavra. Second row: Common Pleas Judge Frank Fregiato Kim Rico, case manager, Ginny Noon, aid; Erin Greenwood, case manager; Assistant Prosecutor Grace Hoffman; Juvenile and Probate Judge Al Davies, Chief Assistant Prosecutor Kevin Flanagan. Third row: David McFarlan, case manager; Sarah Horne, case manager; Elaine Hoffman, account clerk; Cindy Berry, case manager. Fourth row: Kara Purtiman, case manager; Corey Alexander, case manager; Magistrate Amy Busic; Kathy Probst, case worker. Fifth row: Commissioners J.P. Dutton and Josh Meyer.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — The Belmont County Commissioners recognized the county Department of Job and Family Services staff for their work in collecting child support for area youth.

August is Child Support Awareness Month in Ohio, and DJFS Director Vince Gianangeli noted that child support programs impact more children than any other public program with the exception of education, with one in three children involved statewide.

Josh Meyer and J.P. Dutton heard Gianangeli speak. Commissioner Jerry Echemann was absent.

The child support program ensures parents financially support their children when they are living apart.

“Our core functions are to establish paternity, child and medical support orders, enforce support orders, modify support orders, collect arrears, and locate absent parents,” he said.

The Belmont County Child Support Enforcement Agency handles 3,907 cases, with collections amounting to $10,329,232 for August 2018 through July 2019. $7,915,726 of this total is collected by employers. As of July, the collection rate for Ohio was 70.09 percent, and Belmont County is collecting at a rate of 79.59 percent, an increase from last year’s 78.82 percent.

Belmont County ranks fifth out of 88 counties.

Gianangeli credited his staff of case managers and support staff totaling 14 workers. In addition, he commended Belmont County Common Pleas Judges Frank Fregiato and John Vavra, Juvenile and Probate Judge Al Davies, Prosecutor Dan Fry, Magistrate Amy Busic, and Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Grace Hoffman.

Gianangeli said long-time Child Support Administrator David Badia will be retiring the first of September after 30 years in the field and 10 years in administration.

“He’s got two more weeks with us,” he said. “Dave is my first senior manager that’s retiring.”

Badia said the department’s improvement is due to the staff’s dedication.

“I remember a few years back we were number 20,” Badia said. “Last year we moved up to six and this year we’re up to five. We just continue to get better and that’s because of you guys. You guys never cease to amaze me. These guys aren’t like a working team, they’re like a family. I appreciate that. … It’s been fantastic working with you. … It’s been a fantastic 30 years.”

Badia said he was happy with how he’s seen the department evolved in the past years.

“The biggest change was going from paper and pencil to computers. I started in 1989 and the big changes in child support started around the year 2000 and it just kept improving and kept improving. One of the reasons for our success was we do not have a large turnover. Everybody working in child support, they stayed in child support. The years of service here is unbelievable. They’re a smart bunch of people. I seem to have lucked out. When somebody retired, they always got replaced with somebody fantastic,” he said.

Badia said he expects the department will continue to improve.

“You’re always going to have obstacles to collect your money, but over the years the state’s created more tools for us,” he said. “There’s software out there. There’s programs for us to find absent parents. … We don’t let anything fall through the cracks. If a guy has the ability to pay, we’re going to make sure that he pays.”

He will be succeeded by Karia Hunkler, supervisor, with 21 years in the field.

“We’re ranked number five in the state. Hopefully next year we’re ranked number four,” she said, adding that she intends to brainstorm new ideas with the staff.

Another long-time staff member, case manager Sarah Horne, is also retiring after 21 years. Two more case managers, Jenny Sechrest and Michelle Mobley, both with the nursing home department of the agency, will be transferred to child support.