Butler County accepts leader’s resignation

The resignation of the former executive director of Job and Family Services and Child Support Enforcement Agency has officially been accepted by Butler County commissioners.

Ray Pater, who has been on leave since mid-December, informed Butler County a week ago he would be stepping down from the triple-combined agency that also includes Children Services.

Commissioners accepted his official resignation Thursday.

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Pater had been the executive director of CSEA alone for years, until the commissioners put him in the top spot of all three agencies in April 2015.

Children Services Director Bill Morrison has been the interim executive director and will continue in that role until the county completes a process of reorganizing JFS, just as they did a couple years ago with Children Services.

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Morrison told the Journal-News previously he has been told he will continue to be involved on a broader scale in the future plans for the agencies and that is why he recently promoted Julie Gilbert as the assistant director of Children Services.

“We decided to go ahead and create that position now in order to free me up and to kind of prepare for what ever eventuality came around, in regard to Ray’s return or not,” Morrison said. “Charlie’s told me he anticipates I’ll continue in a broader role, so I’m planning as if that’s true.”

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