County board commends Vosburg for efforts
Commissioners also fill four spots on Mental Health Board
The Macomb County Board of Commissioners commended the outgoing chairwoman of the Community Mental Health Board recently.
The county board also filled four CMH board spots, replacing two current members.
County commissioners last week unanimously approved a procla- mation that honors Kathy Vosburg for her 13 years of service on the Macomb County Community Mental Health Board, the past four years as the chair, as well as her years as a county commissioner and Chesterfield Township trustee and other public posts.
“She has deployed practicality in combination with creative problem solving as she devoted her time to support causes related to the most vulnerable and needy citizens of our county, ensuring these individuals have access to
care and a safety net upon which they can depend,” the proclamation says.
Commissioner members noted at the remote meeting shown over google. meet that Vosburg guided the agency during a turbulent time when its state funding was significantly reduced, by over $30 million from 2016 to 2018, due to “Medicaid redistribution.” The CMH has recovered from the turmoil after it made cuts and altered services, and some of the money was restored.
“(Former) Commissioner Vosburg has provided a steady hand in county government for a long time and served us well on the (county) commission,” said Board of Commissioners Chairman Don Brown, a Washington Township Republican, at the meeting, which was attended remotely by Vosburg. “Your service is appreciated and laid the ground work for us to get through moving forward after a difficult time on that (CMH) board.”
The CMH provides mental health, substance abuse and developmental disability treatment services in the county. It has the largest budget in the county outside of the county general fund with a $225 million budget, mostly funded by state and federal monies and fees, and an employment roll of about 346.
Vosburg could have served two more years on the CMH board but decided to leave after one year through a three-year term. Commissioner Antoinette Wallace was appointed by the Board of Commissioners to serve the final two years.
Vosburg, 69, told The Macomb Daily she actually planned to leave a year ago but wanted to complete work on the CEO’s contract and another project. She is leaving to spend more time with her nine grandchildren, six of whom reside out of state.
“I fulfilled what I wanted to do and I’m at the stage in life I want to do a lot of other things, with the family and grandchildren and things like that,” she said.
But she isn’t leaving public service. Vosburg, who was a county commissioner for several years and chaired the board, is in the first year of her second four-year term on the Chesterfield Township Board of Trustees. She’s the board’s representative on the township Zoning Board of Appeals.
Commissioner Phil Kraft, a Chesterfield Township Republican, took over Vosburg’s commission seat in 2016 and is a member of the 12-member CMH board. Kraft at the meeting called Vosburg “my mentor.”
“Kathy has done her job so well that she is leaving early,” Kraft said. “It’s going to be huge shoes to fill. We are definitely going to miss her on the board.”
Vosburg responded at the meeting: “It’s nice to receive recognition and even nicer to know that hard work we’ve been doing does make a difference in the community . ... It takes a lot of people to get all the things done that the board needs to get done, in addition to the hundreds of employees we have in Community Mental Health providing services for vulnerable people in our community.”
The board also appointed four new members due to terms expiring March 31. Two current CMH board members – Kraft and Lori Phillips of Macomb Township and mother of a CMH services recipient — were reappointed, and two members were replaced. Kraft was chosen unanimously and Phillips received 11 of 13 votes.
Also appointed were Mark Kilgore of Eastpointe, who received nine votes, and Briana Jacob of Chesterfield Township, who received seven votes among the 13 candidates. They replace current members Brian Nego- van of Macomb Township, who works at UAW Region 1 in Warren, and Anthony Plewa, a retired GM employee and parent of a recipient of CMH services, each of whom received four or fewer votes.
Kilgore works in substance-abuse recovery for CARE of Southeastern Michigan in Fraser and Jacob works as an executive leader in behavioral health for Acadia Healthcare in New Baltimore.
Donna Cangemi, the recently-retired president of county government’s largest union, Local 411 AFSCME, finished in fifth place for the four spots. Cangemi received six votes, five from Democrats and one from Sterling Heights Republican Joseph Romano. Commissioner Harold Haugh, a Roseville Democrat, did not vote for Cangemi, who had worked as a therapist under CMH.