Tenn. official offered Okla. DHS director post
By Sean Murphy
Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY - The panel that oversees the embattled Oklahoma Department of Human Services offered the agency's top job on Wednesday to a 38-year veteran of a similar state agency in Tennessee for an annual salary of $185,000.
After a closed-door meeting, Oklahoma's Commission on Human Services voted to give retired Tennessee DHS Deputy Commissioner Edward Lake until Monday to decide whether to take the position. The salary is $20,000 more than what the previous DHS director made, and the commission also offered Lake a one-time $5,000 sign-on bonus.
"In our view, he's a proven change agent and a proven leader," Commission Chairman Wes Lane said. "In talking to people he dealt with in Tennessee, he was a guy who was greatly respected by all the parties, the Legislature, the governor.
"We just have great confidence that he is the right man at the right time."
Lake was not immediately available for comment Tuesday. Lane said the Henderson, Tenn., resident planned to discuss the offer with his family over the weekend before agreeing to take the position.
Lake began working at the Tennessee DHS as a child welfare worker in 1973, and he held positions as a food stamp office supervisor and county and regional social services director, according to information provided by Oklahoma's DHS. He served two stints as the agency's deputy commissioner, the position he held when he retired in 2011.
Commissioners have been searching for a successor to Howard Hendrick, a former Republican state senator who retired in March after 14 years as head of the agency, which has 7,000 employees and an annual operating budget of $2.2 billion. Since Hendrick's retirement, the agency has been headed by Gov. Mary Fallin's Secretary of Finance Preston Doerflinger.
If he accepts, Lake will take over an agency that has come under fire in recent years following the high-profile deaths of several children who were in state custody.
DHS also recently settled a federal class-action lawsuit over alleged maltreatment of children in state care that resulted in an overhaul of the way the agency cares for foster children. The so-called Pinnacle Plan, which will be implemented over the next five years, is expected to cost $153 million.
Oklahoma voters also will decide in November whether to abolish the Commission on Human Services and its ability to set policy, and shift oversight and power to the governor's office, which would be responsible for appointing the agency's director with the consent of the Senate.
Lane said Lake met Friday with Gov. Mary Fallin, who supports hiring him as head of the agency.
"No matter what happens in November, Ed Lake will have her support," Lane said. "If the commission goes away, Ed Lake will remain, if he accepts."