Rio Blanco County, in a unique collaboration with Moffat County is excited to announce the new Director of Human Services, Tia Murry. Murry will serve as the Director for both counties and the communities of Craig, Meeker, Rangely and Dinosaur. “I am really excited about serving as the Dual Director of Human Services for Moffat and Rio Blanco counties. I have a versatile skill-set with a lot of integrity and look forward to jumping right into the position. I look forward to becoming involved in both communities and welcome discussion from the communities regarding the services we provide.” stated Murry.
Murry relocated to Craig from her home in Chickasha, Oklahoma. She has a Masters in Human Relations from the University of Oklahoma and an undergraduate degree in English from the University of Science and Arts in Oklahoma. Murry has over 17 years of experience in the field of Social Services ranging from Case Manager Supervisor (State Government) to Executive Director (Non-profit). Rio Blanco County Commissioner Ty Gates extended his welcome and enthusiasm toward Murry, “We are excited to welcome Tia Murry to our county team as our DHS Director. She has a tremendous amount of experience and knowledge. We look forward to seeing Ms. Murry develop a collaborative partnership with Rio Blanco and Moffat County DHS.”
From initial discussions between representatives from both counties, the goal was to hire a highly qualified director to serve Northwest Colorado. Commissioner Jeff Rector worked closely with Moffat County Commissioner Don Cook to develop a plan and goals for the shared position, a process that has been over 6 months in the making. Both counties felt it was important to find a director with great leadership skills and experience to provide the best outcomes to the citizens in the counties. Rector is excited about the new partnership which may prove to be a useful model for other counties or programs. Rector stated “we are thankful that Moffat County saw potential for collaborating, it seemed to make sense with the similarities between our counties and I look forward to continuing our great partnership with Moffat.”
Rio Blanco County and Moffat County will share the Director salary with a 40/60 split respectively. Each county will maintain separate budgets and local staffing. Newly elected Moffat County Commissioner Melody Villard commended the partnership and was impressed with “the ability for our counties to work together to serve not only our neighboring communities but those in the remote corners of our counties as well. We rely on each other as neighboring communities in many ways and this is just another example of how we can support the people who make our area so unique. We are fortunate to have great staff in both counties that can support this new way of working together and are fortunate to have found someone with Tia’s abilities and background.”
Commissioner Gary Moyer “Rio Blanco County is excited to get Tia on board and working for the citizens in Northwest Colorado.” He continued to say “I think we are in a new era of fiscal responsibility among rural counties by collaborating services. This situation might not work for every county and program however under constraints of decreasing budgets it is important to keep options open.”
Pictured above (left to right): Melody Villard Moffat County Commissioner, Barb Bofinger Rio Blanco County Department of Human Services Manager, Don Steerman Rio Blanco County Department of Human Services Attorney, Tia Murry Moffat/Rio Blanco Department of Human Services Director, and Gary Moyer Rio Blanco County Commissioner