CAO named agency for Shelby County

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MARYSVILLE — The Ohio Development Services Agency (ODSA) has finalized its designation of the Community Action Organization (CAO) of Delaware, Madison and Union Counties Inc. as the community action agency for Shelby, Champaign and Logan counties.

CAO has been serving in that capacity on an interim basis since the Tri-County Community Action Commission fell apart in April 2014, when its then director, Denise Bergen Birt, was removed from office for possible criminal activity. The Tri-County board has remained intact to resolve its debt issues, but it no longer receives the federal grants that fund community action activities.

The Tri-County agency had been based in Urbana. The CAO is based in Marysville.

“The Ohio Development Services Agency has a right to temporarily designate an agency to use in (a) county,” CAO Director Rochelle Dennis Twining told the Sidney Daily News, Friday. CAO was so designated to manage the community service block grants that had been managed by Tri-County.

It will continue to do so, but no longer on a temporary basis. That means that the CAO’s name will change and county commissioners from Shelby, Champaign and Logan counties will join the CAO’s board.

“Bob Guillozet has been at the meetings,” Twining said.

There has been no break in services in Shelby County due to the change. CAO programs, including a heating assistance program known as HEAP and a home weatherization program, have been administered through an office in Sidney on Russell Road. That won’t change and neither will its staff, Twining noted.

“We will be adding some programs when a needs assessment is done,” she said. The assessment was begun a year and a half ago, but when the final designation was not forthcoming from the state, the assessment was put aside.

The weatherization help comprises about a third of the agency’s programs. In addition, there are Volunteers in Tax Assistance, financial literacy programs and individual development assistance that helps people get and retain jobs.

“That could be help with a resume or interviewing skills, steel-toed boots, paying for certification or other things,” Twining said.

In his letter announcing the designation’s finalization, ODSA Director David Goodman thanked CAO for filling the gap. He wrote, “With your support, Ohioans in Champaign, Logan and Shelby counties have been able to receive the services they need to maintain a quality of life they so deserve.”

Twining said the CAO board will not fall prey to the problems that did in Tri-County.

“We have a very active board of directors. They have a lot of knowledge (of CAO operations),” she said.

By Patricia Ann Speelman

[email protected]

Reach the writer at 937-538-4824.

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