COLUMBIANA COUNTY Plan to redo home for troubled girls

Reopening the facility means many troubled Columbiana County girls can be treated closer to home.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
EAST PALESTINE -- Plans are being laid to reopen a group home for girls that was shut down during last year's county budget crunch.
The Kyes Group Home may open by July 1, almost a year to the day that it was closed, Eileen Dray-Bardon, director of the county job and family services department, said recently.
The department oversees the home, which opened in the 1980s at a former residence.
Kyes is intended for up to 10 troubled girls ages 6 to 18 who have been placed in the county's custody by the courts. Many are victims of abuse or neglect.
Youngsters who would be eligible to say at Kyes are now being housed at similar facilities throughout the state.
Reopening Kyes is important because it keeps close to home the local youngsters who need such a facility, Dray-Bardon said.
"The first goal is reunification with the family," she explained. Having the girls in East Palestine facilitates family visits and an eventual permanent return home.
Kyes closed because the county was unable to come up with money to help keep it open.
What happened: Voters' decision in May 1999 to scrap the county's 1 percent sales tax stretched county finances close to the breaking point all of last year and prompted layoffs and reduction in services.
In November, voters restored the tax. They also adopted a 0.75-mill, 5-year levy sought by the job and family services department.
Passage of the levy, which produces about $940,000 annually, is helping to reopen Kyes.
Part of the money will be used to run Kyes. The rest will go toward caring for other troubled children in the county's custody. An annual budget for the home's operation is still being assembled.
In all, the county is responsible for 86 youngsters assigned to it by the courts. Some of the children require intensive treatment at various facilities.
Before Kyes is reopened, repairs to the structure are planned, including new electrical wiring and new spouting.
The 19th-century structure has suffered years of neglect as a result of being continually operated on a shoestring budget.
Cost estimates are being assembled for the fixes.
Staff: Dray-Bardon said she is considering adding staff to Kyes when it reopens.
Before closing, the home operated with two full-time and four part-time employees. But that was a skeleton crew, Dray-Bardon said.
A staff of three full-time and five part-time members would provide better oversight, she added.
Kyes is named after the family that donated the home to the county.