Just days after a Middletown couple was found guilty of child endangering, the Butler County commissioners approved a settlement with their former executive director of children’s services.

The commissioners have not blamed former director Jeff Centers for the case involving a 12-year-old who was locked in the dark and dirty basement of her Middletown home for nearly a month; however, they said the case of Shawn and Joanna Blackston hastened a change at the helm of the Job and Family Services agency.

The settlement agreement allows Centers to remain on paid leave until Jan. 18 when his resignation takes effect. Commissioner Don Dixon said Centers also has vacation due him.

“He’s got about two months of vacation time coming and basically the gist of it is he’s on a six-month separation agreement,” he said. “He has resigned and if he gets a job anytime between now and then, the paid administrative leave stops and he’s entitled to his vacation time.”

Centers was placed on paid administrative leave Sept. 18, and the commissioners signed a separation agreement with him Monday. His salary is $86,465.

Both parties have signed the legal document and each side promised not to speak badly of the other, and Centers agreed not to sue the county for any reason.

Dixon said the commissioners have been looking at overhauling the job and family services agency for a few years and with Jerome Kearns alone at the helm of Job and Family Service, they have been able to streamline operations.

“It’s not that there needed to be huge amounts of improvements,” he said. “That department changes daily… I believe it’s better coordination with one director. They have more coordinated programs and more coordinated personnel and policies… Jerome has made some changes and it will continue to change, it doesn’t matter whose really running it, that’s the nature of the department.”

Visiting Judge Michael Crehan found the Blackstons guilty of misdemeanor child endangering Friday. They face a possible six-month jail sentence.

The case came to light after an anonymous tip on July 3 prompted children’s services workers to revisit the home on Philadelphia Avenue. Since 2010, Ohio agencies have allegedly received 24 reports of abuse or neglect involving children in the Blackston family. Nine reports were made in Butler County.

When case workers arrived at the house they found “deplorable conditions” and notified Middletown police. The children, ages 15, 14, 12, 9, 3 and 2, are now in foster care.

Also connected with the case, the commission in September approved three-day suspensions for Julie Gilbert, a children services intake specialist who failed to respond properly to a report for an investigation of abuse allegations made a month before the 12-year-old was found locked in the basement and Thomas Brock, a social services supervisor.

County Administrator Charlie Young said Brock “coincidentally” resigned effective Nov. 23. He does not have a separation agreement.