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Group home for girls 6-18 to close after defeat of levy
The home has been used by the county since the 1950s.
EAST PALESTINE — A group home for girls will be closed in the wake of a levy defeat for the Columbiana County Department of Job & Family Services.
Voters on Tuesday rejected a new levy that would have generated about $2.2 million a year.
The county has been collecting a 0.75-mill levy that brings in about $850,000 a year.
Eileen Dray-Bardon, director of the county DJ & FS. had vowed to repeal the old levy if the new one was approved. But some 57 percent of county voters defeated the issue.
Commissioner Jim Hoppel said the county commissioners voted Wednesday to close the group home operation at Dray-Bardon’s request. The home had been donated by the Kyes family to the county in the 1950s to be used to serve the needs of youths.
Two full-time and two part-time workers will be laid off Nov. 19.
Kyes has been operated as a licensed group home for girls age 6-18 who are neglected or abused but had not been found to be delinquent by authorities.
The operation had cost about $240,000 a year but was recently down to just one female resident.
Dray has said the DJ & FS overall has $3.5 million in expenses but $2.5 million in income. She said the department has been transferring funds to cover costs but can’t do that any more since its annual carryover now is about $100,000.
The home, she said, “is not cost effective” and may have been closed even if funding was better.
Another problem was that the workers were classified as youth leaders, instead of social workers who could provide more help to the girls.
She said there are a host of other public and private programs in the area that can care for needs of the youths.
Dray-Bardon said she will form a committee to help decide what to do with the structure. It could be used to provide other services to youths or the community.
wilkinson@vindy.com