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Randall B. Muth becomes children services director here
YOUNGSTOWN
The Mahoning County Children Services Board has unanimously hired Atty. Randall B. Muth as its executive director.
Muth has been Wayne County Children Services director in Wooster, Ohio, since 2006.
His contract will run for three years, but his start date here is still undetermined, said the Rev. Lewis Macklin, CSB chairman. Muth’s salary will be comparable to that of Denise Stewart, who retired as Children Services director here Jan. 1 at an annual salary of $92,934, Macklin said.
The board unanimously declared Tuesday its desire for Children Services to remain as a stand-alone county agency, but to share legal and human-resources functions with the county’s Department of Job and Family Services.
What will actually happen is still uncertain.
That’s because the Mahoning County commissioners will have the final say on whether Children Services remains independent or merges with JFS, but the three commissioners must be unanimous to override CSB’s vote.
The commissioners last month unanimously declared their intent to designate the county’s Department of JFS as the county’s public Children Services agency. If that happens, the 11-member Children Services governing board would likely be replaced with a five-member advisory board, said Carol Rimedio-Righetti, chairwoman of the county commissioners.
CSB member Luis Arroyo said he made the motion to keep the child-welfare agency independent because he believes the 11-member Children Services governing board best represents the entire county. The entire CSB is appointed by the county commissioners.
Before becoming Children Services director in Wooster, Muth was a staff lawyer with the Children Services Division of the Stark County Department of JFS. In that capacity, he prosecuted child-abuse and neglect complaints in Stark County Family Court.
Muth said his goals include continuing “the history of excellence” at Mahoning County Children Services and helping it obtain accreditation from the Council on Accreditation of Child and Family Services.
Muth has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Kent State University and a law degree from the University of Akron.
He is secretary of the Public Children Services Association of Ohio. He and his wife, Kim, a child-welfare case worker with the Summit County CSB, live in Dalton, Ohio, with their children, Joey and Jordan.