Burke

HOLLIDAYSBURG — Blair County Commissioner Laura Burke deserves praise for her ongoing efforts and commitment to seeing the county’s Children Youth & Families office regain its operational license, fellow Commissioner Dave Kessling said Thursday.

While Kessling, Burke and fellow commissioner Amy Webster expressed appreciation during Thursday’s meeting to those involved in the achievement, Kessling singled out Burke, who has had an active role in CYF operations since becoming a commissioner in January 2020.

“I’m especially happy for Commissioner Burke to get to this point,” Kessling said after the meeting. “I’ve been on the board for two years dealing with this and she’s been here four more years.”

Before Burke took office, the state Department of Human Services was regularly citing CYF for operational shortcomings. But it wasn’t until May 2022 when the state issued the county CYF office what would be the first of seven provisional operating licenses associated with staff shortages, case backlogs and a statewide shortage of qualified caseworkers. During those years, Burke remained involved in CYF operations and at one point, after a CYF administrator resigned, shared supervisory duties of the office with then County Administrator Nichole Hemminger.

Shortly after Kessling took office in January 2024, he, Burke and Webster had to meet with state DHS leaders and negotiate an agreement for CYF’s operations.

At that time, the state wasn’t able to issue a fifth provisional license, so it negotiated a plan requiring the county CYF office to make greater use of contracted personnel, hire state-approved consultants, hire qualified part-time personnel, improve salaries and offer more training.

After the agreement was signed, the state issued three more provisional licenses, before revealing last week that it was restoring the county’s CYF operational license — six weeks before the provisional license was due to expire.

The March inspection showed five citations.

“We’re proud of those in the department,” Burke said during Thursday’s commissioners meeting.

Commissioners also extended their praise to Administrator Shannon Tucker who they hired last year after initially serving as interim administrator. Kessling said that proved to be a good move.

“She jumped in right away and started getting things organized,” Kessling said.

Burke also praised Tucker for encouraging two former employees to return to work for the county CYF office.

While the state indicated in its news release that the negotiated agreement governing CYF operations remains intact through May, the state also indicated that the agency’s operational license remains valid through Oct. 10.

Kessling described restoration of the county’s CYF license as monumental.

“It’s good to see when the state and county can collaborate together to make the right decisions and do the right things,” Kessling said. “As a result, we are where we are today.”

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.