The District’s human services department has lost its second top-ranking manager in a week, forcing yet another interim replacement to fill a void in the last months of Mayor Anthony Williams’ term.
Ricardo Lyles, administrator of the Family Services Administration, retired last week after 28 years with the Department of Human Services.
The administration is charged with providing services and case management for the homeless, low-income residents, adults at risk for abuse or neglect, teenage parents and troubled families.
Lyles’ will be replaced by George Shepard, a human services management analyst who has worked extensively on homeless shelter issues since 2003, according to a release from the department. He was previously employed by the Baltimore Department of Social Services as a researcher, project manager and accreditation coordinator.
Lyles retirement follows the exit of Kate Jesberg, DHS director, who left her $135,000 annual salary effective Sept. 30. Though Jesberg agreed to remain as a consultant, at $85 per hour, she was replaced as director by Brian Wilbon, chief of staff to Deputy Mayor Brenda Donald Walker.
Despite the exodus of its managers and the impending transition into a new mayoral administration, DHS will continue to receive the full attention of the District government, Walker said Tuesday.
“My directive is head down, full-steam ahead,” she said. “The work continues. We can’t drop a stitch.”
Democratic mayoral nominee Adrian Fenty, who has oversight of human services on the D.C. Council, said he has “every intention of driving home the reforms we’ve talked about in the past,” now and when he takes over as mayor — if, as expected, he wins the Nov. 7 general election.
In the meantime, Fenty said, retaining Jesberg as a consultant was a saving grace.
“There will be some pretty solid continuity,” he said.
