The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Mental Health Board plans to merge with ADAS
The Lorain County Board of Mental Health will continue working toward a merger with the Lorain County Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services Board following a resolution passed by the Lorain County commissioners on March 6.
In a special joint meeting of the Mental Health Board’s governance and executive committees on March 12, they debated their strategic priorities and direction in the wake of the merger plan.
According to the Ohio Revised Code, both the Mental Health Board and the Lorain County ADAS Board are required to make joint recommendations on the makeup of a newly merged 18-member board.
On March 6, the Lorain County commissioners endorsed a proposal to merge the Lorain County ADAS Board and the Mental Health Board in an effort to combat the addiction epidemic.
The commissioners voted unanimously on a motion brought forward by Matt Lundy to move ahead on a plan to merge the boards by July 1. Lundy stressed the need to move in a new direction and work together in order to better tackle Lorain County’s addiction epidemic.
According to the resolution, the commissioners are to meet with the leadership of both boards in determining the merger process.
Mental Health Board Governance Chair David Ashenhurst expressed concern over the lack of communication thus far and is pushing for clarity on the commissioners’ plans.
“I see this resolution which asks the county Administrator (James Cordes) and the Prosecutor (Gerald Innes) to meet with the leadership of these two boards in order to have this merger and I say great, when do we meet sirs,” Ashenhurst said. “Because the amount of discussion that is going on in advance of the commissioner’s resolution being implemented and those people meeting with us, I say let’s meet.”
The Board has yet to see details on the planning and a timeline for recommendations of the newly merged board.
Executive Director Dr. Kathleen Kern stressed the merger will go forward but acknowledged the unorthodox process.
“This is an unusual process. In most board areas, the commissioners determine that the boards need to merge. That’s within their rights in the Ohio Revised Code,” Kern said.
“The piece about it that has been surprising to me is the decision that has been made that a lot of the planning is going to be done outside our board which is just not how I anticipated just based on how it’s been done in other communities,” Kern added.
Kern said she is planning on meeting with Cordes on March 14 and hopes to get more information. In the meantime, the Mental Health Board is planning a retreat and will invite members of the ADAS Board and the commissioners as a way to continue their mandate continue planning for the merger.
“The merger is happening, so what can be done to have this be a process that’s transparent to the public that doesn’t in any way diminish the level of support the mental health board has and allows us to spread it across the new board. But no matter what, we’re not stopping the merger,” Kern said.