CINCINNATI — Just days after going in front of the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners saying they’ve appointed an interim director to oversee operations of the Veterans Service Commission and office, the director is back at the helm.
Bill Froehle, Hamilton County VSC Commissioner at-large, told the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners during last Thursday’s meeting that the VSC met in executive session during their regular meeting the day before to discuss personnel decisions.
“Some of the thing’s veterans brought up that we need to have an interim executive director in that position so we can fulfill the duties and requirements of the office,” Froehle said.
He went on to announce the result of that conversation was to install Veteran Service Officer Calvin Wooten as interim executive director, while William Boettcher was recuperating from medical issues.
Pam Minser the Veterans Service Office Administrative Assistant says VSC Commissioner Jerry Rowland came to the office since then and notified each individual employee at the VSO of the decision to pull Wooten from the position and that Boettcher would remain in control but work from home.
William ‘Bill’ Boettcher has served in the role as executive director since the commissioners in 1991 appointed him.
WCPO 9 filed numerous requests to sit down and speak with Boettcher about the office's operations and what they do to serve veterans in Hamilton County as part of a Homefront story focused on Veterans Service Offices in Southwest Ohio. Each request was denied or not returned. WCPO 9 has sent another request for a sit-down interview with Boettcher now that he has taken back over the position.
An email from Minser to WCPO states that Boettcher, "calls in several times a day to check on things and to go over the daily schedule, he checks his emails and voicemails." She goes on to say that he likely won't be back in the office until after his doctor clears him and the soonest date mentioned was December 12th.
The Hamilton County Commission has no oversight of the operations of Hamilton County Veterans Service Office nor its commission. Their appearance in front of the county board of commissioners was at the request of Hamilton County Commission President Alicia Reece. She wanted them to speak about their operations after the Homefront story showed over a five-year period the Veterans Service Commission didn’t spend more than $31million available to them to provide services to veterans in the county. The leftover funding not requested absorbed back into the general fund for other projects.
Hamilton County Administrator Jeff Aluotto said there’s always been the offering from the county to the VSC that if more money than requested is needed, the VSC would receive any additional monies requested. To date the VSC has not requested additional funds outside of their approved budget, which for 2022 they were appropriated $1,280,405 and spent $930,691. The total spent includes $478,945 for salaries for the executive director, staff and commissioners.
The Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas says it is closely following the ongoing public discussions surrounding the Veterans Service Commission. The only role the Court of Common Pleas plays in the process is serving as the appointing authority for the members of the VSC commission as nominated by service organizations.
Veterans Service Commission meetings are held the second Wednesday of every month at 2pm at their office inside the William Howard Taft Center at 230 E 9th St, 1st Floor, Room 1100, Cincinnati, OH 45202.
If you have a veteran story to tell in your community, email homefront@wcpo.com. You also can join the Homefront Facebook group, follow Craig McKee on Facebook and find more Homefront stories here.
