It took a fall off of a mountain to set Kim Warner on his proper path in life.
Warner is retiring on Feb. 26 after nearly 32 years in the social services department at Wellington County, and most of them at the head of the department.
People who work with him note that Warner has a very dry sense of humour, and that came forth in an interview with him last week.
He talked about studying business administration at the University of Winnipeg, planning to become a banker. He got into that, and decided “I didn’t like it. The obvious move was – to join the military.”
He was based in Chilliwack, British Columbia, and doing “a route march” when he had a big fall. “I stepped on what I thought was firm ground,” he remembered.
It was not. Instead, he marched into a hole covered by leaves, and tumbled down the mountainside. He did not break any bones, but, “I destroyed both my ankles.”
Then, he added, dryly, “The concept of marching for a living disappeared.”
Instead, he returned home to Fergus, where his mother showed him an advertisement for a job as a case worker in county social services. He spent almost six years doing that, another period of close to six years as a supervisor, and then headed the department for the next 20 years. If council passes its budget Thursday, as scheduled, it will be his 20th for his department.
He noted that the current worldwide economic woes would have been his third recession in that time – if he was staying. Instead, he is leaving this one to his successor, but he noted the effects are already being seen.
Warner said when layoffs begin, there is some lag time between when those occur and when people start applying for welfare. He said generally, people are reluctant to have to apply at all, so it is often a few weeks past their unemployment eligibility to start when the applications start to come in.
He said there was an 8% spike in Ontario Works applications in December, and another 6.9% increase in January to Ontario Works, welfare.
“February will not be any better. That’s just the beginning,” he predicted.
But, he said, the toughest economic times he faced came in 1991-92, when there were 1,100 people on welfare at the start, and over 3,500 at the end of that period.
“That was huge,” he said.
Social services takes in more than Ontario Works. Warner noted it includes child care services and things like social housing, too.
He noted that the provincial government downloads also caused much work, with the province placing services at the county level.
“We were adding services for about five years,” he said, noting, “There were some good adds – but it was a lot of work.”
Warden Joanne Ross-Zuj has known Warner for her two years on council, and said she has learned a great deal from him and about him.
“He has seen and done it all,” she said, noting he can operate a day care centre or keep social housing on track.
When the province downloaded social housing, it meant the social services department was suddenly the owner of 1,089 units of housing, and, “We can’t go below that number,” Warner said.
While the county is now responsible for the maintenance of those units, it is also building another 55 units in an apartment building in Fergus, with an option for another 55 units later.
“No matter what gets thrown at him,” he knows how to solve it,” Ross-Zuj said.
Three-time Warden Brad Whitcombe said Warner was always meeting the challenges of the day.
“There was significant changes when we consolidated our services,” Whitcombe remembered. “It went flawlessly under Kim.”
As for welfare payments and benefits, Whitcombe said those are always “a moving target. Kim was always ready for them.”
Another three-time warden, John Green, remembers that Warner was “dedicated to people who needed service. He’d see they got it.”
He called Warner “a complete professional.”
Green added, “The city and the county benefited from him. He was looked upon by his peers as a guru.”
Warner also noted that when the county took over welfare, the province was supposed to cover 80% of the cost to the local municipality’s 20%, but that gradually dropped to reach equal payments, causing much consternation in local budgets.
“That type of thing does happen,” he said.
For the next little while, Warner plans to take life easy, and perhaps resurrect an old hobby of his.
“I used to do a lot of art,” he said.
But first, he just wants to contemplate life before sketching it, and he said he will do that on a cruise of the Hawaiian Islands.
“I just need a break for a while,” he said, adding he wants time with his family.
“I live in Fergus. I’m going to stay there for a while.”
