They had been expecting it, but still, when Lawrence County Department of Jobs and Family Service Director Buddy Martin handed in his retirement announcement to the Lawrence County Commission Thursday, folks at the courthouse indicated they would rather he stick around a while longer.

“What happens if we say no?” administrator Kathy Fraley inquired.

“I’d like to table this ‘til 2007,” Lawrence County Commissioner George Patterson responded.

“Let’s table it ‘til 2009,” fellow Commissioner Jason Stephens suggested.

Martin could only smile. Over the years he has created some friends— and fear— in high places. Locally, he is respected as a down-to-earth hard worker who knows the ins and outs of government finance better than anybody. Outside of southern Ohio, he is known for straight talk and common sense that are not typical hallmarks of bureaucracy and that tends to scare died-in-the-wool bureaucrats.

“I hate to lose him, Commissioner Doug Malone said. “If he’s not the best, he’s one of the best in the state. I accept his retirement begrudgingly.”

The ‘welfare office’ guy

Martin, 59, came to what was then called the Lawrence County Welfare Department in 1979.“Construction work had slowed and I couldn’t find a job without leaving the area and I didn’t want to do that. I had a degree from Marshall (a double major in psychology and sociology). I had originally only planned to stay through the winter,” Martin explained. But he stayed a bit longer. He found social work a reward and a challenge as well as a way to make a living. Over the years Martin rose from social worker to case manager.

“Then the assistant director’s job came open and I was young enough and arrogant enough I guess at the time to apply for it,” he mused. He became director in 1988.

The welfare office is big business in Lawrence County. Martin estimates that 30-40 percent of the county’s residents receive some form of DJFS services. He estimates that $200 million flows through that agency to Lawrence County residents each year. Child support enforcement, children’s services, public assistance, workforce development, food stamps, Medicaid, it all is administered by the Lawrence County Department of Jobs and Family Services.

Over the years he earned the respect of his employers, the county commission, by avoiding politics and concentrating on making government assistance work for those who needed it most.

He also became respected as someone who had made the books balance, satisfied state auditors and understood the maze of federal and state programs and all their intricate rules and regulations. Commissioners point out that he has found ways around problems few in his position could master.

“In all these years his office has never had a bad audit, it’s always had a clean audit,” Patterson pointed out. “When you feel comfortable with someone over an agency you don’t have to worry. … A lot of counties are not as fortunate,” Patterson said.

“I always tease Buddy that I’m the one with the degree in finance and economics but I’m enrolled in the Buddy Martin School of Finance,” Stephens agreed.

In 1999 commissioners had enough faith in his abilities that they moved the Child Support Enforcement Agency under the wing of jobs and family services. This came after commissioners tired of fielding more than a half a dozen complaints daily about the child support agency.

“We had been getting a lot of phone calls,” Patterson recalled. “Buddy came in and we said ‘there’s something we’ve got to do. We need to put this office under your umbrella.’ He didn’t like the idea but he said he’d do it if that’s what we wanted. He put Gene (Myers) over it and from that time I’ve had one phone call. It’s been years since then.”

Martin is quick to credit his staff with a good deal of his success.

“I’ve got the best staff of any agency,” he said. “Sometimes I wonder how we managed to pull off what we do, such as the clothes giveaway. We handled about a thousand families a day at first so you can see how ridiculously difficult that was but they did it.”

The clothing giveaway is one of the things in which Martin has taken the most pride. Needy families were given up to $500 in vouchers to purchase clothing for their children. By the end of the one-month campaign, more than $1 million was handed out to thousands of area families, some of who stood in line for hours to sign up for the assistance. The money came from federal incentive funds that are given to the office for meeting or exceeding various program goals. The money could have been spent on staff salaries or things of that nature but the staff chose instead to conduct the clothing giveaway.

If he is proud of his staff, the DJFS employees are equally proud of him.

“He’s a great motivator,” DJFS member Terry Porter said. “He can motivate people to get them to do what he wants. He’s down to earth. He’s a good ole’ boy but he’s a professional good ole boy. Not just the department, but the whole county will miss Buddy Martin.”

Testing limits

Martin is most proud of something that has become his trademark— to the chagrin of state officials: Testing limits. Martin said he has never any intentions of breaking laws, just bending bureaucratic rules to help people.

“One of the first things I like to ask is ‘why can’t I?’ You’ve got a situation and you need to find a way around it and they say ‘you can’t do that’ and I say “why?’ and then they tell me ‘well, it’s never been done’ and then I say ‘but show me where it’s against the law’ and usually by that time they’ve figured out I’ve already done my research,” he said. “I’m not trying to get anybody to do anything illegal but sometimes the boundaries are different from what people perceive them to be. People tend to err on the side of conservatism and what is safe all the time,” Martin said. “I’m just a dumb old country boy trying to get what he can for the people in his county,” he said.

Government and business officials here and elsewhere are not likely to describe Martin as “dumb.” In fact state officials at times seems to be both perplexed at his understanding of the way government works— or is supposed to work. And at times they have no doubt flinched at his accurate but sharp repartee.

A couple of years ago a delegation from Lawrence County went to Columbus to discuss with Ohio Department of Transportation officials the delays in completing the Chesapeake Bypass. Martin chided ODOT officials for their project stalling by telling them to “cowboy up” the money and get the bypass finished.

“It made them mad but they deserved it,” Stephens said. “This guy’s got guts. I especially enjoy watching Buddy with people in Columbus. He gives them the Waterloo drawl and just hoodinks them.”

Buddy’s business is big business

Martin estimates that 30-40 percent of Lawrence County residents receive some form of DJFS services. He estimates that $200 million flows through that agency to Lawrence County residents each year.

Child support enforcement, children’s services, public assistance, workforce development, food stamps, Medicaid, it all is administered by the Lawrence County Department of Jobs and Family Services.

Martin said one of the things in which he has he taken the most pride was last December’s clothing giveaway. Needy families were given up to $500 in vouchers to purchase clothing for their children. More than $1 million was handed out to hundreds of needy families. The money came from federal incentive funds that are given to the office for meeting or exceeding various program goals.

Martin’s successor will be Gene Myers, a 20-year veteran of the office who has been assistant director for the last year and a half.

What advice does Martin have for Myers?

“What? I’ve been giving him advice for the last year and a half. No, really, even though you have rules and regulations, the main thing is always relate to the people and their needs,” Martin said. “Read the rules but see how to make it apply to people’s needs.”