BATAVIA, OH — Brenda Gilreath, long-time leader of Clermont County Child Support, was honored at today’s Board of County Commissioners meeting. Gilreath will retire at the end of the year after 35 years with the county.
“She is a tremendous person and a tremendous leader,” said Timothy Dick, director of Clermont County Department of Job and Family Services. “She will certainly be missed, but her retirement is well deserved.”
Commissioners thanked Gilreath for her service. They presented her with a certificate of recognition.
“This was a hard decision for me, my employment here in Clermont County has been a big part of my life for a very long time,” said Gilreath, speaking via Zoom.
Remarks by Brenda Gilreath:
This was a hard decision for me, my employment here in Clermont County has been a big part of my life for a very long time. I would like to thank this board, and all the previous boards going back for the last 34 years for the support you have shown to me and to the child support program.
I’d also like to thank them for the employment opportunity that I have so much enjoyed. Throughout my career, I’ve worked closely with other counties, our state office and the Child Support Directors Association. Over a period of 8 years, I served on the Child Support Directors Association Executive Board as Cincinnati District Present, VP and Treasurer. I spent a lot of time in Columbus. I also served as chair of the Legislative Committee and Conference Committee where I led the implementation of 15 statewide conferences including the first-ever Partners Conference. I chaired the conference which brought together Ohio Family Support Association and Ohio Child Support Directors Association which merged the two associations into one.
During my travels on business for Clermont County, when someone would ask me what county I was with, I always was very proud to say Clermont County, I live here, I work here, and I raised my children here. Throughout my career, I’ve been very passionate about the child support program because of the services that we provide to children and families. I will retire leaving the program with an outstanding performance record.
We have held the best overall performance in the large caseload division probably longer than any other county. Every year for we are recognized, just recently we were recognized for Best Performance in Paternity Establishment and Best Performance for Disbursements vs. full-time equivalents both in the large caseload division. After the pandemic hit in March, we moved our genetic testing dockets for paternity establishment out into the parking lot and created a drive-thru experience. – kind of proud of receiving that recognition during the pandemic.
We were the first child support program to electronically file with the Courts here in Ohio, we were like one of the first to do that nationally. We created electronic workflow technology that was common being our program and Judicial, also a first here in Ohio. That project was funded with grant money that came our way because the benefits of the project had the ability to improve performance for many of the counties in our state. We piloted Ohio eQuick Pay and created new programs like the Criminal Non-Support Diversion Program, the Career Opportunities Program, Waiver and Compromise and Beech Acres Parenting Center Access and Visitation.
I’d like to thank the staff that works in the child support program, the many who have already retired, and all of our local partners who provide services on our behalf – I’m very proud of what we all have accomplished together and feel very blessed for such a long career working in a wonderful program.
I started off on my career journey with Clermont County some 35 years ago as a young extremely motivated and passionate public servant. I wanted to make a difference. 35 years later, I leave feeling as if I did just that.
Thanks everyone, stay safe and God bless!