Jack Frech, director of the Athens County Department of Job and Family Services, announced his retirement at Tuesday's county commissioners meeting, after 33 years on the job.
Director of the Athens County Department of Job and Family Services, Jack Frech, came to the Athens County Commissioner’s meeting Tuesday morning to seek approval for the departmental hiring of Monica Dodson — though he wound up announcing his retirement.
The commissioners had already intended to discuss whether any disciplinary action would be taken against Frech, taking their meeting into executive session for nearly two hours. The commissioners convened both with and without Frech present, eventually deciding to not take any disciplinary action.
Frech declined to comment on what actions lead to the disciplinary hearing.
Following the executive session, Frech announced his intent to retire at the end of December.
Frech had held the director position for more than 33 years, he said, and stressed that the decision was not a product of the commissioner’s actions.
“It was just time to move on,” he said.
Frech also received the approval necessary to hire Dodson.
Steve Murray, president of the Athens County Veteran Service Commission, also spoke at the commissioner’s meeting Tuesday. He highlighted that more veterans and widows in the area have been coming into the commission’s office to seek assistance recently.
“Walk-in traffic over the last 12 months has increased,” Murray said.
Murray shared some of the department’s statistics from the past year with commissioners, and said 938 veterans and 62 widows received financial aid from the commission in 2013.
“We really don’t have any problems; things are going along very smoothly,” Murray said. “It’s sort of amazing.”
Glenn Crippen, community development coordinator for Hocking-Athens-Perry Community Action, was also present at the commissioner’s meeting to discuss a recent $21,900 federal Community Development Block Grant.
Crippen said the grant is being used to fund a project that will replace 10 large windows and one small window in the old Nelsonville High School, though the project will not be finished by the allotted time.
“It’s been a tough project.”
He requested approval from the commissioners to have an additional three to four months to finish the to complete the project. The commissioners approved his request, and decided to give Crippen a week to write a proposal to receive the extended deadline.
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