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Children’s Services staff report security upgrades and costs as commissioners rescind levy proposal
Summary
Children’s Services leaders told commissioners Wilson Children’s Home has 55 alarms installed and that 135 county children are in custody, with high placement costs; the board voted to rescind a previously planned one-mill levy and solicited public sponsorships for a new dormitory.
Children’s Services leaders told the Adams County Board of Commissioners on Feb. 23 that security upgrades are underway at Wilson Children’s Home and that placement costs are straining the agency’s budget — and the board moved to rescind a previously planned children services levy.
Executive Director Sonya Meyer said Advanced Digital Systems has installed 55 alarms on top-floor windows, bedroom doors and exit doors and that the system will send notifications to staff devices when alarms are triggered. Meyer said the keypad system will photograph and record who arms or disarms the system and that additional sensors and a strobe/amplifier have been ordered for lower floors and a new dormitory under construction.
Meyer told the board 135 Adams County children are in custody, about 50% of whom are in kinship placements; 13 children currently reside within the county home. She said more than half of the annual Children’s Services budget is going to placement and board care and cited last month’s board care cost of $210,000. Meyer also told the commissioners she would like to expand in-house medical and behavioral-health services and increase recreational activities for residents.
Shortly after that presentation the board unanimously approved a motion to rescind a previously adopted resolution that would have placed a 1.0-mill, five-year Children Services levy on the ballot; the rescission (Resolution No. 2026-074) cancels further submission steps recorded in the earlier resolution. The minutes record the original resolution language and the commissioners’ unanimous vote to rescind.
Meyer asked community members to consider sponsoring rooms in the new dormitory because existing furniture (more than 30 years old) will not move to the new building; she specified that metal furniture is preferred to avoid insect infestation. The board and attendees also discussed staggering board member term expirations so no more than two members’ terms end in the same year.
The board’s actions leave the agency to pursue operational and fundraising steps while halting the previously planned levy certification.
