Keith W. Babb, Jr.

The City Commission is the legislative body of City Government. The five Commissioners are elected by popular vote of the registered voters in the City of Pahokee. The City Commission must determine the policies, directions and level of service of City government. Their job is to determine how to best meet the numerous needs and demands for public services throughout the community while complying with state and federal mandates and doing all this with limited financial resources.

The mayor in a commission-manager form is the ceremonial head of the municipality, presides over council meetings, and makes appointments to boards. The mayor may be an important political figure, but has little, if any, role in day-to-day municipal administration.

Responsible for supervising a senior services Case Management unit in an assigned area, and for the application of advanced social services knowledge and skills in evaluating public assistance, welfare services and/or senior services program through the review of case records and staff reports.

• Resolved escalated issues between clients and caseworkers through effective mediation techniques.
• Collaborated with cross-functional teams to develop innovative solutions for complex case issues.
• Issues counseling forms/disciplinary actions; handles employee complaints and grievances; recommended the hiring, termination and promotion of staff.
• Plans and supervises the work of subordinates social services workers engaged in preliminary screening for public assistance eligibility; authorized expenditure of public funds after evaluating unique casework reports and recommendations prepared by the staff; advises on eligibility conditions or resolution of unusual and difficult cases.
• Plans and supervises the work of subordinates social service workers engaged in the intake and assessment of senior citizens needs; authorizes home delivered meals, homemakers services and transportation for eligible clients.
• Depending on area of assignment, may supervise employees working in nutritional assistance and counseling programs for senior citizens. Areas of responsibility cover congregate meals sites, outreach and case management and senior multipurpose centers.

I was hired as the CCE Program Coordinator for the Community Care for the Elderly Program (CCE) for employment by Gulfstream Areawide Council on Aging in February, 1980. I was responsible for obtaining CCE services for home bound, frail elderly in the Glades area; an area which has an extremely high percentage of lower-income individuals, many of whom were farm workers.

In the past, it was extremely difficult to get vendors to provide services in the Glades. The most frequent explanation had been given for this problem has been a lack of qualified personnel. On my own initiative, I place ads for direct service employees and obtained an abundance of such qualified employees for vendors who were interested in providing this service. In a very short time, I was able to make residents of the Glades quite familiar with Community Care for the Elderly services and was getting services to needy clients. Indeed in the short time I was employed by Gulfstream, according to George W. Tsismanakis, the Executive Director of Gulfstream, I was able to get more service delivered in the Glades to homebound, elderly persons than had ever been accomplished in the past. Mr. Tsismanakis, noted that my achievements were truly remarkable and have brought the agency and myself high acclaim from clients, the press and public officials in the Glades area.

My duties consisted of client assessments, preparation of a case management plan and ordering of appropriate services for clients. I was also responsible for ensuring that the services were of high quality and that the billing of services were accurate. I preformed all of these duties most admirably.

Because the Gulfstream Areawide Council, spin-off the Community Care for the Elderly Program to the County Commission and because I had a desires to continue in my role as a case manager in the Glades area, Mr. Tsismanakis , noted, if he thought that that I would not be hired by the County under the Community Care for the Elderly Program and/or Title III-B to continue performing the same tasks, that he would immediately hire me as a Planner for the Gulfstream Areawide Council on Aging, To do this, Mr. Tsismanakis, expresses however, would deprive one of our neediest area of a capable individual who is truly committed to working in the Glades.