Boone County Commission News Release

Boone County Commission Now Accepting Applications for Director of Public Safety Childcare Center

COLUMBIA, Mo. (February 5, 2025) - The Boone County Commission is excited to announce the position opening for the Director of the Boone County Public Safety Childcare Center. Applications will be accepted through March 2, 2025. The job posting may be found at https://www.showmeboone.com/pscc/.

Construction of the Boone County Public Safety Childcare Center is expected to begin in summer 2025 and the Center is anticipated to open by midyear 2026. The Commission has engaged the recruitment services of Strategic Government Resources (SGR), whose mission is to help local governments be more successful by recruiting, assessing, and developing innovative, collaborative, authentic leaders. The Commission is optimistic that this unique career opportunity to direct a mission-based childcare center will attract a wide range of highly qualified candidates.

The Director of the Public Safety Childcare Center will play a key role in establishing the operations, developing policies, hiring and building a team, developing and implementing an early childhood education curriculum and nutritional program, and collaborating on future expansion of the Center. The Director will also work closely with stakeholders regarding policy development, programs, and feedback.

The Boone County Public Safety Childcare Center, an approximately 10,000-square-foot facility, will provide extended access to childcare for first responders within Boone County Government. The Center will initially include approximately 5,000 square feet in finished space on the main level and 5,000 square feet of unfinished space in a walkout basement to accommodate future expansion of the facility. The Center is thought to be the first purpose-built public safety childcare center in the nation.

"We could not be more thrilled to kick off the director search and what we hope to be a competitive hiring process. This is an opportunity for a director to literally help build the Public Safety Childcare Center from the ground up. Our goal is to have a director onsite by July to help establish a strong foundation for the new Public Safety Childcare Center well before we open our doors next year," said Boone County Presiding Commissioner Kip Kendrick.

Access to and the availability of affordable childcare is at crisis level across the nation. This is exacerbated for first responders due to atypical, unpredictable schedules and the typically limited hours of most childcare centers. Through the construction of the Public Safety Childcare Center, Boone County hopes to address the challenge of finding childcare for its first responders, including Joint Communications dispatchers, Sheriff's law enforcement, and detention officers.

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