Westlock Family & Community Support Services has a full-time director at the helm in time for 2014.
Westlock Family & Community Support Services has a full-time director at the helm in time for 2014.
Cindy Olchowy, who has been acting director since former director Jayme Baxter left the post in early September, said she's happy to be heading up the organization on a permanent basis.
'I'm very excited to be at this position. I have had the opportunity sit at this position for the last few months and had the opportunity to realize what a great community this is," she said.
Olchowy hails from Thorhild, so she's quite familiar with the Westlock area, and she has more than two decades of experience with municipal administration and FCSS.
She said Westlock has a bright future, with lots of opportunities for growth relative to seniors and young families - two populations FCSS programming tends to focus on.
'I'm really looking forward to working with everyone," she said.
In the immediate future, Olchowy said she hopes to stay the course with the current FCSS programming, which she said Westlock already does very well. In particular, she noted the success of the family-school liaison worker program, as well as the home visitation program.
'Westlock's noted to have one of the best home support programs, which I think is a great program to provide to residents," she said.
While Olchowy isn't looking to make any drastic changes, she said she hopes to 'get back to the basics" of FCSS programming, and will also be looking to reach out to seniors in the outlying areas of the county who might not otherwise be able to use FCSS services.
While Olchowy is heading up the organization on the front lines, there are also some new things on the horizon behind the scenes.
An administrative change that has taken place in Westlock FCSS over the past few years is set to be finalized with the town taking over from the county as the organization administering FCSS.
Town director of Legislative and corporate services Carol Revega saw FCSS fall under her purview as the result of an administrative reorganization at the town which council approved in July.
The reason for the change, she said, is that too many people reported directly to the CAO.
She presented a new inter-municipal agreement, as well as the 2014 budget, to the Village of Clyde council at the Dec. 17 meeting. Clyde council approved both documents, which will come before Westlock County council Jan. 14 and town council Jan. 28.
The inter-municipal agreement recognizes that town council is the administrative 'unit authority" for the organization, and outlines the creation of an FCSS advisory board made up of members of the three municipalities.
'It's an advisory committee to advise on programs and services within the community and to provide feedback to Westlock town council," she said.
'They can formulate a policy and make recommendations to town council, but they're not their own entity where they can enact policy and hire employees."
As for the budget, it is in line with previous years in that the provincial grant will be matched on roughly an 80/20 split with municipal contributions. The provincial grant will be $320,839 this year, with the three municipalities putting up $80,210. That figure is broken down on a per-capita basis, with the town contribution 39 per cent, the county contributing 57 per cent and Clyde contributing four per cent.
