Bier, who was selected in a 4-0 vote during a regularly scheduled meeting, beat out 17 other candidates for the agency’s top job — which will pay $66,500 annually to start. As the director, Bier will be responsible for overseeing the county taxpayer-funded agency, which boasts a $2 million budget and is responsible for giving out financial aid to the county’s neediest veterans. The agency administered aid to 223 veterans in 2012, according to the latest figures available.
Commissioners said Wednesday that Bier exuded a sense of professionalism and discipline that will be needed to guide the office out of the past year, which was full of controversy and turmoil.
“She was very professional,” Commissioner Ken Smith said. “I had my mind made up after I met her. As far as I was concerned, she was going to be our next director.”
Up until February, the agency’s board had been deadlocked over whether to fire former Executive Director Curt McPherson as rumors swirled about a mismanaged office and mistreatment of veterans and employees working there. McPherson retired Feb. 28, after spending nine years as the agency’s director.
In a phone interview with the Journal-News on Wednesday, Bier acknowledged that she’ll need to revamp the agency’s image and face challenges given the agency’s recent struggles and infighting. She said her experience managing anywhere from a handful to roughly 100 Marines during her 20-year career in the Marine Corps will help her successfully guide the agency and its crew.
“It’s overwhelming, everything that needs to be done. We have to repair the reputation of the Butler County Veterans Service Commission,” Bier said. “That’s going to be the challenge: to develop that faith. We have to do a lot of work to show them that we’re reliable and ethical.”
Bier, a Middletown native, said she’s up for that challenge. It was her plan, she said, to continue helping veterans after she retired from the Marine Corps last year, and she’s excited to do just that in her hometown. Once she takes the helm — no later than June 30 — she wants to focus on advertising the agency to the 27,000 veterans living in the county.
“(The commissioners) told me that veteran outreach is one of the deficiencies they’ve had,” Bier said. “I’m looking forward to getting out there, networking, reaching out to the veterans and getting back to communicating with the people in the county.”
Bier has been actively working with veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in her position as a management analyst in Virginia, which made her an attractive candidate for an agency that is trying to help younger veterans, said the commission’s President, Fred Southard.
“The veterans who are retuning (from Afghanistan and Iraq) are going to need shelter, clothing, food and transportation,” Southard said. “And, very importantly, these veterans are going to need counseling. We would like to be on the edge of that. I think she can do a tremendous job on that.”
Bier will be the agency’s first known woman to hold the executive director title — which shows a willingness on the board’s part to embrace change at the veterans service commission, she said.
“The commissioners are open to pointing the county in a new direction,” Bier said.
The job drew interest from roughly 18 applicants from around the state and across the country, including an employee working in U.S. House Speaker John Boehner’s office and West Chester Twp. Trustee Lee Wong.
“It was a very hard decision,” Southard said. “In a heartbeat, I could have hired all six. But, being a Marine, (Bier) is very disciplined. That’s what I got out of her.”
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