AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry on Wednesday named Richard Nedelkoff, a former Texas criminal justice director and Bush adviser whose juvenile corrections work spans three decades, as the Texas Youth Commission's new conservator.

ERICH SCHLEGEL/DMN

Richard Nedelkoff says safety is his top priority at the Texas Youth Commission, followed by staff quality.

The choice was lauded not just by longtime bureaucrats but by juvenile justice experts, who say Mr. Nedelkoff's experience at the state and federal levels makes him the agency's best hope for fundamental and long-term change.

In an interview Wednesday, Mr. Nedelkoff, 48, said he sees his role as helping the TYC decide what it wants to be two years, five years, even 10 years out – an identity he imagines will emphasize community-based services and intimate group settings for youth.

"That's what other states are doing, and it's a viable alternative to keep kids closer to home, where they can interact with their families and ultimately be reunited with their communities," he said. "I've seen a lot of successes in larger facilities that, with proper staffing and leadership, did a wonderful job creating small group environments."

Mr. Nedelkoff, who served as director of the U.S. Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Assistance in Washington after advising George W. Bush while he was Texas governor, has worked in the youth and family services realm in five states.

He has decades of on-the-ground experience with juvenile corrections – as a probation officer, detention care worker, child protective services caseworker and foster care coordinator. Most recently, Mr. Nedelkoff has held executive-level positions at a public-safety consulting firm and a national nonprofit juvenile advocacy group – the latter a post he'll keep while on the TYC payroll.

"Here's a guy who's known nationally, who's seen things work and not work, who has great perspective," said Jay Kimbrough, who succeeded Mr. Nedelkoff as Texas' criminal justice director and served, until this summer, as Mr. Perry's first TYC conservator. "He's a father, a gentle spirit, someone I would trust with my own kids. He's a guy that fits."

Government insiders say Mr. Nedelkoff's demeanor was one of his biggest selling points. He has a reputation for being deliberate and thoughtful and a careful listener, attributes they hope will mesh well in the sometimes tumultuous TYC executive office.

"He's not a guy who's going to come in slapping backs and politicking," said David Dennis, president of Florida-based Eckerd Youth Alternatives, the nonprofit juvenile justice group where Mr. Nedelkoff remains employed. "His approach is one that is strong yet is very civil."

Mr. Nedelkoff said he doesn't intend to make any personnel or programming changes – including revisiting the agency's policy on pepper spray – without a thorough assessment of what's working and what's not.

That said, "I'm someone who can assess pretty quickly."

"A lot of progress has been made in a very difficult time," Mr. Nedelkoff said. "But we're at the point now where we really need to look at the long-term future."

While safety is his first priority, he said improving the quality of staff – through training, recruitment and retention efforts – is next on his lineup.

"We're thrilled to have someone with his juvenile justice experience," TYC spokesman Jim Hurley said. "We all want the same thing – to reform the agency and improve the lives of kids. The office is going to work very well with him."

Mr. Perry placed the TYC in conservatorship in March after reports of widespread sexual and physical abuse. Mr. Nedelkoff replaces Ed Owens, the semiretired current conservator of the TYC who took over for Mr. Kimbrough this summer. Michael Griffiths, juvenile services director for Dallas County, confirmed that he, too, was approached by the governor's office about the job, but said he wanted to keep his current post.

The governor has put no timeline on how long a conservator will be in place, and Mr. Nedelkoff said he doesn't have an exit date.

Mr. Nedelkoff started his criminal justice career with jobs in juvenile justice, guardianship and child protective services in Kentucky, Virginia and Ohio, before holding posts in the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice and running two programs for at-risk youth and their families in that state.

While Mr. Bush was governor, Mr. Nedelkoff oversaw Texas' $140 million criminal justice division. In that post, he developed the state's School Safety Center – a statewide training resource for schools – and Project ChildSafe, a gun-lock giveaway program.

"He had a vision; he was creative," said Fred Mills, former deputy director of the California Youth Authority. "He can withstand the political pressure and really get the job done."

Not all of his programs were immediately successful. Project ChildSafe ran into trouble after defects were discovered in the distributed gun locks, forcing the state to suspend the program and issue a recall.

Mr. Nedelkoff followed Mr. Bush to Washington in 2001, when the president named him director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, an agency that provides grants to help communities implement public safety measures.

There, he "was really a very effective administrator," said national juvenile justice expert Barry Krisberg, who worked with Mr. Nedelkoff in the late 1980s assembling youth violence prevention programs in Texas.

"I think this is great news," said Dr. Krisberg, president of the National Council on Crime and Delinquency. "He's a tough-minded guy. He's played in a few bureaucracies."

eramshaw@dallasnews.com;

dswanson@dallasnews.com

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