August 28, 2008

John K. Eller, IV, who is currently Director of Social Services in Cabarrus County, North Carolina and has over nine years of experience in social services administration in western and central North Carolina, has been named Catawba County’s next Social Services Director.

Eller will succeed Bobby Boyd, who is scheduled to retire on November 1, 2008. Eller will be responsible for overseeing the provision of services to families and children in areas including adult assistance, child care support, day care support, family and children services, food assistance, child abuse prevention, Work First assistance and more. He will supervise a staff of 407 in an agency that has a fiscal year 2008-2009 budget of $42,663,609.

"Catawba County has benefited from Bobby Boyd’s tremendous leadership over the last 30 years," said Tom Lundy, Catawba County Manager. We’re extremely proud of the professionalism and innovation of the Social Services staff on behalf of our citizens. John Eller brings leadership experience as a director, and a commitment to service, and we look forward to his long service as he joins our management team and becomes part of the Catawba County community."

"Honestly, this is an unexpected surprise," Eller said. "I am honored to be selected to lead an already great agency. I have some big shoes to fill with Bobby Boyd retiring, but hope my drive to provide the highest level of service to our citizens will continue the already great work occurring at Catawba County Social Services. I wasn’t looking to move or begin a new path in my career. However, when this opportunity presented itself, I knew I couldn’t let it pass by. I've been fortunate enough to have had opportunities that led me to this point in my professional career. However, I am looking forward to sinking my roots in Catawba County with my family, and begin focusing on the future."

Eller has been serving as Cabarrus County’s Social Services Director since July 2007. He said Catawba County's reputation for success and innovation in Social Services led him to seek the position in Catawba.

"I have the highest respect for Mr. Bobby Boyd and what he has done over the years, Eller said. "Catawba County has always been known for its innovation and collaboration, to achieve positive outcomes for its citizens. Many of us across the state have thought, at some time or another, 'I wish we could do that here.' Catawba County has always stretched itself into the realm of possibilities where others may stop for fear of the unknown. I have always admired the fact that people have enjoyed living and working in Catawba County, which I think speaks of its character."

"The process for selecting a new Director of Social Services has been a very intensive and careful one which involved both county staff and community leaders," said Karyn Yaussy, Chair of the Catawba County Board of Social Services. "Their input and concern for the process has been invaluable to the Board of Social Services as we have made this appointment. We are extremely pleased with the caliber of applicants we have had. This department has a statewide and national reputation for its work and visionary programs for county services, this is a direct result of the leadership the Social Services management team, and the Board did not want to compromise the department’s future work with our choice for the new director. We believe John will be the kind of leader to keep moving this department forward for many years to come."

While in Cabarrus County, Eller's main duties included establishing agency standards and evaluating the quality of delivery services. He oversaw personnel operations for 250 employees, planned and prepared a budget totaling more than $34 million, assessed program needs and future project needs, and developed and implemented programs, policies, procedures and future projects. Eller said he focused on customer service, which is also a priority in Catawba, while in Cabarrus County.

"This required input from all of our staff and lots of planning across the board," Eller said. "The end result was renovating our lobby area to be more customer friendly and revamping our front desk staff to promote the concept. We moved away from calling names or numbers of individuals and used pagers (like the ones restaurants use) to let a customer know when it was their time to meet a staff person. I have also attempted to create better means of communicating with our staff by giving them an opportunity to provide feedback on agency operations."

We are moving toward technology-based efficiencies internally, including a major undertaking of electronic imaging of records, that should help us to streamline information more appropriately," Eller added. "Cabarrus County leads the state in the percentage of citizens eligible for Food Assistance who receive benefits. Cabarrus County also leads the state in the percentage of children in Carolina Access Health Insurance, which is Medicaid Managed Care. Both of these numbers exemplify the great work done by our staff and our commitment to service."

Eller worked in Cabarrus to develop an on-site food pantry with the local Cooperative Christian Ministry. He also worked with the social work staff to reduce the foster care backlog in order to obtain permanent placements for children in foster care within 12 months. Eller is proud of efforts in economic services by creating a call center approach with the goal of improving efficiency by directing phone calls from citizens to a centralized center and away from staff already busy meeting with citizens or keeping records up to date.

Eller has more than nine years of experience in social services administration. He worked as Director of the Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services’ Adult Services Division from 2005 until becoming Cabarrus County’s Social Services Director in 2007. In Mecklenburg, he supervised Social Work Services, Aging in Place Programs (including In Home Aide and Caregiver Support), the Senior Citizens Nutrition Program, Adult Medicaid and Food Stamps, and Mecklenburg County's Transportation Program.

"In Mecklenburg County, I was most proud of our staff’s efforts responding to a Hurricane Katrina Emergency Shelter at the Charlotte Coliseum. I led efforts over a two week period of time to provide services. Our dedicated staff assisted with providing placement and housing assistance, crisis intervention protective services, Medicaid & Food Stamps, and Transportation Services. Our staff also promoted a Senior Wellness Project, which teams social work and senior nutrition site coordinators in an effort to provide nutrition education and intervention to over 600 homebound seniors. We also reformed our transportation efforts to better utilize and coordinate transportation.

Eller was Social Services Director in Swain County, in western North Carolina, from 2003 until 2005 and served as a supervisor at Ashe County’s Social Services from 1999 until 2003.

Eller earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work from Appalachian State University and will soon complete a Master of Business Administration Degree at Queens College in Charlotte. He was named Outstanding New Director Of The Year in 2005 by the North Carolina Association of County Directors of Social Services and won the Presidential Volunteer Service Award in 2007. He holds North Carolina certification as a legal guardian.

When asked about working with a staff that has been led by one director for more than thirty years, Eller said he would seek their assistance during his upcoming transition.

"I will be looking to the staff in Catawba County to help me learn", Eller said. "I don’t pretend to know all of the answers, and will not seek to make any immediate changes unless required to do so. I think that I can contribute and share some insight, though, by bringing my knowledge and skills to the table. My intent initially will be to hear the needs of staff, citizens and community partners alike, be responsive to those, and see where it is that we want to move forward together."

Eller added that he has mostly broad goals as he begins working in Catawba County

"I’m concerned about how to better serve those in the community who are working to support their family, but still barely making ends meet," Eller said. "This would include affordable health insurance for our children. I’d like to look at mental health outcomes as it relates to our work with families. I’d hope to proactively plan for the 'aging wave' so we provide the highest level of services for our baby boomers. I’d like to see how we can better use technology to our advantage as we look to the future. Last, but not least, I’m convinced that focusing on staff development will insure worker retention and satisfaction. I’d like nothing more than to hear staff say that they love coming to work every day. My hope is that this will also yield high levels of performance and provide quality customer service as well."

Eller is not new to western North Carolina as he is a native of West Jefferson, in Ashe County. His wife, Amy, is also from western North Carolina in Wilkes County. Amy has her Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing from UNC-CH and has a love for public health and has worked as a public health nurse and nursing supervisor before taking a break to be a full time mother of their three children. They have a son, Noah, and two daughters, Brooke and Eva Grace. He enjoys working in the yard, watching football games, listening to bluegrass music, participating in church activities, and also enjoys activities with the family, including “an occasional game of Candy Land”.