The state legislation creating an appointed Mental Health Board to oversee Milwaukee County’s Behavioral Health Division (BHD) set a low bar for public transparency and involvement. But that will change a little in 2016 as members voted Thursday to add more opportunities for public comment during its meetings.
The new law creating the board was initiated in 2014 by state Rep. Joe Sanfelippo (R-West Allis) and state Sen. Leah Vukmir (R-Wauwatosa) and backed by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele as he worked with the Legislature to strip the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors of power and consolidate his own. The law only requires the new Milwaukee County Mental Health Board to meet at least six times annually, with one meeting deemed a “public hearing” to be held in Milwaukee County, the definition of which seems to be open to debate.
The Mental Health Board, in its first full year of existence, is scheduled to hold seven meetings in 2015. Its two committees are slated to hold eight meetings this year.
While all of the board’s meetings are open to the public, the public is only allowed to testify during specific meetings, and only on specific agenda items.
But that policy is changing. Last Thursday, the Mental Health Board voted to schedule additional meetings in 2016 that are solely devoted to public testimony. On March 24, 2016, and May 26, 2016, the public will be allowed to comment on the budget. On Sept. 6, 2016, the public will be able to comment on a wider variety of topics.
As the Shepherd has reported exclusively this summer, mental health advocates and consumers have voiced concerns about the lack of transparency and public input on behavioral health matters during a critical year in the county’s redesign process. The administration is closing its long-term care facilities, is taking steps to privatize the mental health hospital and is transitioning to a decentralized community-based system.
Although the Mental Health Board appears to be taking welcome steps to include the public in its decision-making process, it could do more to be more transparent. The board’s website still lacks any contact information, public testimony is limited and the audio provided of meetings is of poor quality. The lone phone number on meeting agendas is for a senior executive assistant at BHD who does not work for the board. The board has no dedicated staff member.
|
|
Flexing Its Muscles?
The Milwaukee County Mental Health Board—made up of appointed experts in behavioral health who are volunteering their time to serve the public—took over the responsibilities of the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors on mental health and substance abuse services in the summer of 2014. County supervisors now have no say on these matters and must approve Abele’s budget request for the Behavioral Health Division—likely $189 million in 2016, with a tax levy of $59 million—with no questions asked, one sign of its lack of transparency.
The board is working through the growing pains of its first year and is beginning to flex its muscles at times.
The board has oversight of BHD so it could be a powerful board that’s in charge of one of county government’s largest and most critical divisions. Yet the Abele administration is calling the shots on most matters.
Department of Health and Human Services Director Hector Colon and BHD Administrator Patricia Schroeder, along with the board chair, former County Corporation Counsel Kimberly Walker, set the terms of debate and the agenda. Board members have told the Shepherd that they have difficulty getting their issues of concern onto the board agenda and meetings typically lack “new business” discussions.
When a handful of board members attempted to pass a budget amendment in July that would allow them to hire an independent policy analyst, Colon and Walker spoke out against it, saying that board members should get all of their data and information from BHD’s Schroeder. The amendment failed by one vote, after pressure from Colon to reject it, hamstringing the board for at least the next fiscal year and keeping members dependent on the very people they are supposed to oversee.
Another issue up for debate is the board’s involvement in BHD’s operations. The Mental Health Board is tasked with formulating policy, not the day-to-day administration of the department. But that line can be blurry.
In Thursday’s meeting, the board voted to remove itself from salary and personnel decision-making, determining that these issues are administrative and should be in the hands of BHD itself. They also voted to affirm that BHD employees could file complaints with the county’s Civil Service Commission.
But that discussion didn’t sit well with AFSCME Council 32 Field Representative Dennis Hughes, who objected to the decision from his seat in the audience.
“Employees don’t trust the administration,” Hughes called out before being shut down by Board Chair Walker.
Since the public wasn’t able to testify in last week’s meeting, it was the only way Hughes could voice his objection to granting BHD free rein over personnel matters.
Hughes explained to the Shepherd that he was speaking up on behalf of a longtime employee of one of the county’s long-term care facilities who was promised a full-time job within BHD after her facility closed. But that offer didn’t materialize. The employee was offered a part-time second- or third-shift position instead, seen as a demotion with a major loss of income.
Hughes said that the Civil Service Commission doesn’t oversee issues this employee faces, leaving her with no way to appeal her case and now apparently she cannot even raise the issue in front of the Mental Health Board.
Board Member Mary Neubauer said in Thursday’s meeting she had requested that the board set up a committee devoted to employee relations and questioned why that hasn’t happened. Chair Walker responded that she’d thought the committee would have been devoted to salary and personnel issues, which the board now has given to the administration. When Neubauer indicated that the board would still need to know about employee matters, Walker suggested that she and Neubauer could discuss the issue in private to resolve it.
This article is part of an ongoing series on Milwaukee County’s mental health services. To read articles on the board’s inception and responsibilities, the attempt to privatize the mental health hospital and the lack of public input, go to shepherdexpress.com.
