Commissioners push for public health board combination

Lorain County commissioners have endorsed a proposal to merge the Lorain County Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services and Mental Health boards in an effort to battle the addiction epidemic. Lorain County Commissioner Matt Lundy cited the drug epidemic March 6 when pushing for the merger. “Lorain County is being overrun by an addiction epidemic,” Lundy said. “It is critical we move in a new direction. We must tear down the current silo system and work together. “Today, I am asking my colleagues and this board to support merging the two boards to better serve our loved ones and families battling addiction and mental health.” The commissioners voted unanimously on Lundy’s motion to begin making a plan to merge the boards by July 1. Lorain County Administrator James Cordes expressed skepticism that the merger could be completed by the July deadline, but said the process is not difficult. In other news, commissioners proclaimed March as Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. To celebrate the proclamation, Amber Fisher, superintendent of the Murray Ridge Center, spoke about the impact people with these disabilities make to the county. “Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month is really about recognizing the contributions that people with developmental disabilities make in our community, and people who are eligible for services from Murray Ridge contribute everyday as members of the workforce, as volunteers, as devoted friends, artists, performers, good neighbors,” Fisher said. “They have many valued roles in the community.” She said the center has had an initiative in place since 2017 that has had hundreds of their adult program participants out volunteering in the community. Also, the commissioners formalized the complaints they made at their Feb. 27 meeting and urged the state to abandon House Bill 70 due to its impact on Lorain City Schools. “It’s about the students,” Lundy said. “We need to check the egos and the personalities and all those things.” Lundy said that whether someone lives in Lorain or not, it is easy to see the disruptions cause by the bill, which allows the state to take over low-performing school districts. “I think it was a big initiative pushed by the previous governor,” he said. “The bottom line is that we need an environment where the students can learn, where the teachers feel appreciated, where the families feel their children are succeeding, and House Bill 70 certainly has not created that environment.” Also, Gregory Trucking, of Elyria, received a $125,800 contract for limestone aggregate for the county’s Highway Department.