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Social Services reports staffing pressures, steady benefits outlays and disaster‑fund spending
Summary
The Department of Social Services reported vacancies and recent resignations, regular disbursement of food and energy benefits and initial expenditure of county disaster funds; commissioners accepted the monthly operational report by motion.
Corey Fisher Wellman, director of Burke County Department of Social Services, told commissioners the agency is continuing to meet required performance metrics while managing staffing turnover and distributing disaster relief funds after the recent storm.
Wellman said the agency had added FTEs after Medicaid expansion in December 2023 but still showed 29 open positions when the report was prepared; 7–12 of those positions were in the hiring pipeline. He said the net vacancy rate, once conditional offers and start dates are accounted for, was closer to 10 percent and that supervisors recently hired should improve retention.
Operational highlights: the agency said it distributed more than $2,000,000 in food and nutrition (SNAP) benefits each month, approved 57 LIHEAP applications in December and has begun disbursing disaster funding. Wellman said the department had already spent roughly $200,000 of the disaster allocation and was actively using rental and energy assistance funds; state guidance limits reallocation unless counties demonstrate local need.
Child welfare metrics: the county reported about 75 children in foster care, about 290 open child protective services (CPS) cases (roughly 18 cases per worker) and 1,600 CPS reports in 2024; four children entered foster care in December and five exited, four by adoption and one by reunification. Wellman said the principal shortage driving placement in the office is a lack of higher‑level treatment placements — a problem largely outside county control — and that recruitment for foster and treatment‑level placements is ongoing.
Personnel: Wellman said nine staff resigned in December, though six of those positions were refilled during the month. The director credited an expanded HR team — a dedicated HR position for health department and DSS — with improving the speed of hiring.
Commission action: Commissioner Britt moved to accept the DSS operational report as presented; the motion passed by unanimous voice vote. The report will remain on the regular meeting agenda for further review as needed.
Wellman and staff fielded commissioner questions about the pace of disaster‑fund spending, community outreach for assistance programs and recruitment strategies for foster families and higher‑level placements.
