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County staffer and MHADAB Board Chair Erin Dooley, in glasses, leads an informal MHADAB Executive Committee meeting with HHSA Director Christy Coleman beside her. Photo by Annelise Pierce.<\/p>\nCounty staffer and MHADAB Board Chair Erin Dooley, in glasses, leads an informal MHADAB Executive Committee meeting with HHSA Director Christy Coleman beside her. Photo by Annelise Pierce.<\/p>\n
During an executive meeting of Shasta\u2019s Mental Health Alcohol and Drug Advisory Board (MHADAB) yesterday, a phalanx of Health and Human Services Agency staffers \u201cpre-gamed\u201d \u2014 Supervisor Kevin Crye\u2019s term \u2014 how the larger advisory board should operate in future.<\/p>\n
They did so in the presence of only two MHADAB members, new board chair Erin Dooley \u2014 who herself is an HHSA staffer \u2014 and Crye.<\/p>\n
The discussion was held during what was originally slated as an executive meeting of MHADAB, a smaller meeting held monthly that includes the leadership of the larger MHADAB group. When only one of the two current executive MHADAB members showed up to the meeting, it might have been cancelled and rescheduled. Instead, Dooley held the meeting informally with those present, a group made up almost solely of her peers and supervisors.<\/p>\n
MHADAB is a state-mandated board that\u2019s supposed to provide advisory oversight<\/a> of county mental health services and work to ensure the voices of the public, especially those most impacted by mental health and substance use, are included in county decision-making.\u00a0<\/p>\n Much of yesterday\u2019s discussion was led by the county\u2019s HHSA Director Christy Coleman, who sat between Dooley and Crye, frequently taking the lead during the meeting. At one point Supervisor Crye, who sat next to Coleman, asked how long presenters would be allowed for their presentations during future MHADAB meetings. When Coleman authoritatively answered, \u201c10 minutes,\u201d Crye asked if that decision had already been made.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, we\u2019re kind of making it now,\u201d Coleman said, before being reminded by Dooley, who works under her, that such decisions would have to formally be made by a vote of MHADAB. Crye, who\u2019s been unfailing in his praise of Coleman since before he voted to appoint her to HHSA\u2019s top position said it was \u201cstupid\u201d that Coleman, who runs HHSA, doesn\u2019t have a vote.<\/p>\n State law<\/a> regarding community mental health boards lays out a number of parameters regarding the number and type of individuals who must be included on the board. Coleman cannot legally sit on MHADAB because she holds a role on the county\u2019s mental health team, as the county\u2019s Mental Health Director.<\/a><\/p>\n A recent clash between MHADAB and Coleman<\/p>\n HHSA is the county\u2019s largest department, overseeing not only mental health but also public health, child and adult services, and a variety of other county community health functions. Coleman has led the agency<\/a> for a little more than a year after being brought on as second-in-command a few years ago.<\/p>\n Over those years, HHSA has faced scrutiny for ongoing financial shortfalls<\/a> and staff turnover<\/a> even as the county continues to face a steep uphill battle when it comes to addressing pervasive community health needs, including suicide rates that are the highest in the state and double the state\u2019s average. <\/p>\n Coleman has clashed with MHADAB in recent months, specifically when the advisory board voted to issue a letter of support for a proposed behavioral health facility known as True North<\/a>. MHADAB\u2019s support for True North was among a flood of other public support for the project which Coleman at first strongly rejected, asking supervisors to send a letter of opposition<\/a> to the state instead. Coleman later reversed her stance<\/a> on True North, asking supervisors to support the project, something four of the five supervisors \u2014 all but Crye<\/a> \u2014 have now done.<\/p>\n This month Crye and three other county supervisors voted not to reappoint two key MHADAB members including fellow supervisor Matt Plummer, who helped lead support for the True North behavioral facility and community member Ron Henninger who\u2019s been among the most outspoken MHADAB members when it comes to insisting on accountability for county mental health funding.\u00a0<\/p>\n Some community members who regularly attend MHADAB meetings have described Plummer as an advocate for community mental health needs. And MHADAB members voiced their support for his work by electing him as vice chair of the group just last month. Nevertheless, supervisors voted to replace Plummer with Crye as the county\u2019s MHADAB member last week.\u00a0It\u2019s not clear if such action was legal, given that state law mandates three-year terms<\/a> for board members and Plummer took up his role on MHADAB only a year ago. Shasta Scout has reached out to the county attorney for comment.<\/p>\n Possible reductions to public participation<\/p>\n The agenda for the first meeting of the year for MHADAB\u2019s executive board included a number of organizational items. While a number of informal decisions were made by a consensus of county staff yesterday, none are binding since they were not made by MHADAB itself.\u00a0<\/p>\n Discussions on so-called \u201cboard decorum\u201d and public comment recurred again yesterday after a similar discussion at MHADAB\u2019s last full group meeting in December. County Counsel Joe Larmour and Shasta County CEO David Rickert both attended that meeting with Larmour opining on the need for the MHADAB chair to take more control over public comment periods.<\/p>\n