Mar 27, 2020 3 min read

When it became a campaign issue during the commissioners’ race last year, no one could have envisioned that filling the Washington County human services directorship might occur as a new contagious disease spread worldwide.

But with the advent of the novel coronavirus and its ramifications, Washington County Children and Youth Services Administrator Kimberly J. Rogers is handling both her job and a position that has gone unfilled for more than two years.

Commission Chairwoman Diana Irey Vaughan said Thursday that Rogers, a resident of Greene County, was named to the human services directorship last week.

Her compensation is to be formalized at a meeting of the county salary board next week, but the pay the unfilled position carries is slightly more than $101,000.

The director’s position has been vacant since the county sold its health center in December 2017. Tim Kimmel, Washington County’s immediate past human services director, was also health center administrator until he went to work for Premier Healthcare Management at the time of the sale.

In Washington County, the human services director oversees several agencies, including Children and Youth Services, Aging Services, Behavioral Health and Development Services and interfaces with independent organizations that deal with substance abuse and domestic violence, for example.

Irey Vaughan said Thursday that Rogers was one of two finalists for the position, and the candidate who “could hit the ground running. She has a plan of what to do to create a single point of entry” for the host of services the county is mandated to offer.

Irey Vaughan said from ensuring senior citizens are aware they can get nutritious takeout meals at county-run centers to dealing with those with behavioral health disorders who may feel lost during the crises brought on by the pandemic, or those whose alcoholism and drug use or gambling addiction is exacerbated, social workers and programs are available to help.

“She is just all-hands-on-deck,” Irey Vaughan said, “when it comes to better delivery of services for Washington County residents.”

Rogers, a resident of Jefferson, began working for Washington County as CYS administrator in fall 2012.

She had previously been an intake supervisor for the Allegheny County Office of Children, Youth and Families.

Her tenure began with overcoming controversy that surrounded her predecessor and drew the attention of state officials after Judge John DiSalle expressed “grave concern” about the administration of the agency, which includes a staff of between 70 and 80 employees.

For five years in the 1990s, Rogers was a Children, Youth and Families intake caseworker, and from 1997 to 2001, she was a drug and alcohol addiction counselor for Gateway Rehabilitation Center, providing counseling sessions to individuals and members of their families.

Rogers earned a bachelor of arts degree in psychology from Penn State University in 1992 and went on to study social work at the University of Pittsburgh, completing her degree in 1998 and receiving certificates in direct practice and child welfare.

She also earned a certificate from the National Association of Social Workers Pennsylvania Chapter in performance management and accountability.