Recording in progress. Good afternoon, everyone. This is Monday, October 14, and I like to call to order the CEO search committee. We are doing interviews today of our two finalists for the CEO position, I'd like to have a roll call as to which committee members are here, in which board members are here. Ms blackshire, would you do that for us? Please?
Yes. Madam Chair. Dr tag present, thank you. Commissioner Kinloch present. Thank you. Mr. Parker here. Thank you. Mr. Glenn present. Thank you. Ms Ruth, have you joined the call as of yet? Ms Ruth, have you joined the call via zoom? I
I will circle back to miss Ruth, Dr Tech, but currently, right now, you do have a quorum. Ms, Garza dewars is also joining us today. Mr. Wash, thank you. Are there any other board members joining the call via zoom? Are there any other board members joining the call via zoom. Dr tab, we are all set. Thank you. All right. Thank you very much. Ms blackshire, all right, so we do have a quorum. The candidates are in the building. Mr. Conley, do you want to speak briefly before we bring in our first candidate? Thank you,
Madam Chair. I just wanted to stay for the record that both candidates have been given their instructions. Mr. White is in route. He is in the building, and we'll get started just as soon as he arrives. Okay.
Okay, so our first panelist, or our first interview, is with Mr. Michael Hunter, is that correct?
Mr. White,
Mr. White, I'm sorry. I thought you said it was in route. Oh, okay, I apologize
in the building and in route.
All right, good afternoon, and welcome, Mr. White, we are the CEO search committee of the D when board. I don't know if you've met everyone. Maybe we can just introduce ourselves so you'll know who we are, and then we can get started. We do have some questions for you. I'm sure you've been anticipating those. So alright, so I'm Cynthia tag and I'm the chair of the search committee, and I'm also serving currently as a chair of the board.
Jonathan chimlock Wayne, county commissioner and a D when board member and vice chair to CEO search committee.
Bernard Parker, board member,
aye. Thank you everyone. All right. Mr. Connelly, do you have anything further to say, or should we just jump right into our question? I'll
ask one final time. If Mr. White has any questions before we begin, I do not for yours. Madam
Chair, all right. Thank you very much. Though we do have a series of questions to ask you, Mr. White, there may be some follow up questions for clarity, so you can anticipate that that may occur from any board member. But for our question number one, I'd like to call on Commissioner Kinloch
Good afternoon. B When has recently added the call center, the crisis care clinic, mobile crisis operations, par services and CCBHC clinics as departments to provide needed services for D win clients. Given this current expansion in D win services, where do you see D win in one to three years, and how would you lead D win into the future?
Good afternoon, I see D win as a national leader, a best practice in the country, I think, looking at what has already happened, and looking at the the implementations that have even happened in the agency I'm with, and the way that they're trending in the way that we're comparing information around the country, I can see d1 as a national leader and a place where people come to learn how to implement these practices, particularly with the mobile mental health services that are being offered, they are tremendous, and they're getting people to much needed services that they need. Thank you.
All right, okay. Mr. White, the wind serves people all ethnic backgrounds, particularly since Wayne County is very diverse county based on your experience and statistics available regarding behavioral health services. Do you think that there are disparities in the services given to certain ethnic groups? If so, what would you do to ensure equality of service for all clients served by the wind?
Yes, and good afternoon to you again, sir. You know I, I do think there's just disparity, but I don't think it's intentional. I think I have learned working at the Michigan Department of Civil Rights that there are some some communities that are marginalized or not represented. And I think certainly in Detroit, you know, we have a variety of different communities inside of Detroit. You look at the south end of the northwest side of Detroit, you have a high Arabic population. You look in the southwest side of Detroit, you have a heavy Hispanic communication in northeast side of Bangladesh. And I think that there's an opportunity to communicate with all of the city of Detroit. And I think that representation is important. So first and foremost, we need materials that will communicate with all of our community, documents that are translated into various languages. Our messaging needs to be multicultural and diverse. When I came back to Detroit for the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, one of the first things I did was I hired my number two into Detroit as my dei and one of the things that she did, which was very impactful for us, is translated a lot of our communication materials to various languages so that we can, we can communicate with the community, the entire community that we represent. So one of the things I would do is to make sure that we provided the materials that we have in various languages. There's also a tremendous number of hearing disabled people that are not included in meetings. I think translation services are much needed in public meetings. And so the other thing I would do is just that to make sure that the there's translation services available, that there's various methods of communication with people of different dialog.
Thank you. And I know that having different literature and different language very helpful. What is your thoughts about having staff people that can also be able to discuss things with people or different ethnic groups? They may not have English as their first language? Absolutely,
in fact, you have to be representative of the community in which you serve. And I think that having a multicultural, multi diverse or extremely diverse, staff is important. I think representation is important. People need to be able to see themselves in you and in organizations that serve them.
Thank you. Mr. Glenn,
good afternoon. Mr. White, if new as CEO you will, you will be in charge of over 700 employees and a budget that exceeds of a billion dollars. Although you will have this large responsibility, you will be responsible for answering to the wins board of directors, who are the final decision makers for the win. Please describe how you would manage this organizational structure and how you would work with a similar board. And how have you have and how have you worked with similar boards of directors in your professional career?
Yes, sir, I'll start with this year I did at the Michigan Department of Civil Rights after retiring from Detroit, and I work for a board there. The Michigan Department of Civil Rights has a board of directors that I answered to very similar and structured to this, where our budget was approved, policies were approved. I presented to them monthly. We discussed a variety of different issues as it relates to the running of the organization and the direction of the organization, and frankly, I was held accountable for my strategic plan that I presented annually my budget and had to report to that board. And it worked out very well for me. I was able to work with the board respectfully, and certainly there were things that they wanted change with the organization. When I took over, we were able to methodically work through that, and some of the things that we did were innovative, little bit different than they anticipated. Many they liked, some they didn't. We talked those through no more improper but just wasn't the direction of every board member at the time, and we were able to respectfully talk to you that and come up with the appropriate resolution. Most recently, and most of my career, I have worked with the board of police commissioners in the city of Detroit Police Department. I spent 11 years at. Assistant chief, and then the last three and a half as chief of police. And prior to that, I was responsible for the civil rights department, which involved our consent judgment. So I exclusively work with the board on policy, procedure change in policy, civil rights violations, problematic officers and those types of things. That board has direct oversight of the police department. They approve policy. I report to that board weekly, currently as chief of police, and we discuss everything from the suspension of officers for misconduct to to not suspending officers for variety of different reasons that they may feel should be and it it literally every operational aspect of the police department runs through the board of police commissioners. Those meetings are fruitful, but they are also sometimes a little bit challenging, but respectful. And certainly on my part, I understand the hierarchy of the board, the chair, the Vice Chair, and all of the board officers, and I think I do a good job with it. These are, you know, oftentimes very complex issues, life and death, but I try to respect the process. I certainly have a tremendous amount of respect for the board of police commissioners, and that's my experience in it, and I think I do a good job with it. Thank
you. I have a follow up question for you related to his question, working with boards, and you speak about working with them respect, you know, working through differences and coming up with a solution. I don't know your exact word, but coming up with a with a solution that's acceptable to both parties. But have you been in a situation where what you where this did not work out, where you were not able to come to a compromise in terms of agreement on how to proceed on a certain position. And if so, if that's happened to you, how did that? How did you respond?
That has happened, and you know, I respect the the charter position of the board's responsibility, and if there is something that within charter, whether I agree with it or not, it's not illegal and ethical or moral, then I move forward with whatever the pleasure of the board is. I don't want to characterize it as there's that happens a lot, but there are times when there's just a fundamental disagreement in certain practices as it relates to the police department, such as the releasing of a name, for example, and a particular issue that may come up in an investigation where I recognize that releasing the name will compromise the officer. Oftentimes, I'm put in situations with high level investigations, some may be at the federal level that I can't discuss certain details publicly, but I can do it in a a private, not a private meeting. I can't think of the word right now, but a non public, smaller group, board meeting, and I cannot think of the name. It'll come to me as soon as I walk out here. I apologize, but and so they may want it publicly. And I will ask respectfully, if I may do it in closed session, if I may do it in closed session. And so, you know, oftentimes what we want it now and then, I'll have to take the position that we have to do it in closed session because as to not compromise the facts of a case, but not, not a lot of issues such as that, just, you know, sometimes that comes up. But again, the standard is, if the board has the authority to have it, I'm not there to challenge their authority. I give it to them. They have a charter mandate to oversee the police function. I have responsibility as police chief, and I understand the difference, and so I do everything in my power to give the board what they need to move the organization forward, right?
Thank you. Thank you,
Madam Chair,
yes and go ahead.
D win has a number of D, W and operates, or its board operates and a committee structure. Lot of the recommendation Well, all of the recommendations that come from the CEO are referred to various committees for one discussion, but also changes. So the committee structure is a very important part in how policies and recommendations are presented to the Board of Directors. Here how engaged and in these various roles that you just mentioned, how engaged are you and familiar with the committee structure in developing those those policies? Yes,
sir, I'm very familiar with the committee structure, and have developed a number of policies. Working through committees. Have submitted policies for. Review to committees, and have had the respective unit inside of the police department provide information for those committees, for on one on one meetings, and presented myself on various committees over the years, and very happy to do so. I think anytime you build policy and change the direction of the organization in a positive way is a good thing, and I should be part of that. When I was with the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, I participated in a limited aspect based on some of the direction changes that we did when I took over, one of the biggest things that we wanted to do was bring down our backlog, and so our committee meeting was specific to working with them and bringing down a backlog of cases in the Michigan Department of Civil Rights. We were able to do that, and it was the same structure. It was a committee that was put together, we reported out to that committee, and then policy was made, and then we had a larger meeting and discuss the policy. I think it's very productive process.
Thank you. Any further follow up questions? All right? Have the next question for you, Mr. White, as D win, CEO managing the clinical and administrative functions of D win, it will be very important to the success of D win managing those yet the CEO will also be required to work with lawmakers, media, community leaders and other interested parties that are also critical to d1 success. Please describe how you would manage this responsibility and tell us how you have managed similar responsibilities in your professional career.
Yes, ma'am, I would manage it very similar to how I do now. I've had the opportunity to present at Mackinac, had an opportunity to work with speaker, Tate, Representative Santana and others, other lawmakers, even the lieutenant governor, and to discuss a variety of different things from and again, I know I'm speaking specific to crime, but that's been my world for 28 years. But we, we've had to go in and discuss crime reduction and things such as that, and I've had to to work with a variety of different lawmakers on everything from police reform, in fact, working with Senator Chang right now on a police reform bill and providing some input into that. As it relates to the media, fortunately and unfortunately, sometimes it comes with the territory. And I say that a little bit tongue in cheek, I'm very much in favor of transparency and communicating with the community, and sometimes it's a lot based on having to be present at every critical incident. I know it would be very different here, and I understand the role is very different. But you know, as I, as I look at this position as CEO, and what that world would look like. It would be communicating the, you know, the developments of the organization, the openings of new buildings and and the services that we provide, I would imagine that there would be some discussion on, on the direction of the organization from time to time, based on what's going on. You know, I don't know I don't know if it would be conversations on the mental health code, but I know it influences literally everything we do. It's the backdrop for the authority of d1 so I embrace it. I don't have a problem with it, and I understand, you know, once I once I learn the rules of the communication operation here at d1 as it relates to who speaks on what, I would, you know, be more than happy to conform the whatever those rules are. But I don't have a problem with communicating. I certainly don't have a problem working with our lawmakers. I have a pretty healthy relationship with them. That started before I went to the state, was improved when I went to the state and continues to this day, and I think I missed one part of your question, ma'am, I wasn't able to write down the whole question.
I think you spoke to most of those. But I have a follow up question, if no one else does Okay, as a follow up to that. So first 90 days gets real critical. When you're coming into a new organization. I personally have been in that situation myself. Tell me a little bit more about, or describe a little bit more what your approach might be in terms of establishing you know your role in establishing you know who you are in that first 90 days. Yes, ma'am, I
think the first 90 days. Are essential. I think the first 30 days it's to get in, meet with senior managers, introduce myself, talk to them about the progress of the organization, where we are right now. I think whenever there's a change at the top of your organization, it creates somewhat of a bit of instability, from the standpoint of people become uneasy as to who's coming next, what's what changes are they're going to bring to the organization. So I think it's essential that we we meet and we talk face to face with our senior managers. Continuing with the first 30 days, is to walk around to meet at go to all the facilities. I know that there, there's this one, and then there's the seven mile one that's being built. So about a year out, check on the progress of that, who the key contributors are to that, and walk to Browns with them and see how we're doing. 707 Milwaukee. Get over there and walk around and meet those folks and introduce myself. Continuing with the first 30 days, start setting up meetings with the staff. We know that there's a significant number of staff here, so obviously bringing 600 people into one room would not be realistic. But set up group meetings and start to make my way around to those meetings and observe and then see the the organization in action go out to those, those on the ground units, the mobile units, and all of those different functions that we have meet the key stakeholders. And again, we're still talking in the first 30 days, I think, no later than the 31st to 32nd day of this. Of the second 30 days, we have to get out and meet our service providers, one on one again. You got to go to those places. And I know it's a lot. And if I'm not mistaken, I've seen two sets of numbers. I've saw 375, and I saw 500 I think it's more like 500 so to say that I'm going to meet with 501 fell swoop is not realistic. But set up meetings where we can meet with groups of of service providers that provide the same service, get them in a room and talk to them, and then then that that final 30 of the to complete the 90 days is to sit down with the staff. Look sit down with the C CFO. Look at the budget. See how we're performing. Look at billing. Look at all the all of the sources coming in, the state and the federal grant systems. Are we meeting our grant responsibilities? Are we? Are we doing our annual grant reports? Are they annual? Are they 30 days? Are they 90 days? Make sure that we're up on all of that. Sit down with the CFO and ask how the budget is going. Are we are there any shortfalls? Are there any anticipated problems with the budget? Get out in front of those issues before they become a problem. I have to come before this body and explain why I missed it. Get in front of them and say, Okay, here's what, what's going on with the budget? Here's an anticipated shortfall. Make the appropriate adjustments early, and then within that 90 days, sit down with the staff level set with the staff on the direction of the organization. Now that I've met with everybody, seen the organization in action, here's where we're going to move to next, and here's our focus. Make sure that we're up to date on training. Once I have all that information, then set up individual meetings with this honorable body to discuss any expectations that you all have for me individually, the substance use disorder board, meet with them, see if we're meeting the expectations there, if there's any concerns that they have, if there's anything they would like to see out of this leadership team that they haven't or would like to improve on, and that would be my first 90 days high level.
Okay, I do have another follow up question the clinical side is often one that's complex but is crucial to our success in terms of quality of care and all of that. So can you just speak a little bit to how you might relate to a work with the clinical side as the CEO, yeah,
I know that there's a push nationally for clinics, and that to increase clinics, behavioral health clinics nationally. I think it's very important. I think it's extremely important. I think it will help a lot of people I would like to see and I don't know. I will tell this body that now that I do not know how many clinics are out there, outside of D when I don't know how many are inside, in terms of I know the four or the three, plus this building that are out there. But if you're asking me the question about clinics in general, or expanding clinics, I'm very interested in that I did see in the notes of the board. I believe. Leave that the national law firm, Hill, and I can't think of the two names that talked about the trend on behavioral health clinics, certified behavioral health clinics, and the impact. And so I think it's important that we're there and that we're having those discussions, and that that we're on the forefront of that again, to ensure that the clinics are in neighborhoods that they're needed in. I think they need to be in walking distance. I don't think that they're or at least on the same lines as public transit. They don't need to be in isolated areas where people can't access them. And then going back to the earlier question about, you know, diversity, I think there need to be diversity in the place with other clinics, I think that they need to be able to speak to the people in those communities. And I mean that literally, to literally speak to the people in those communities. So I think it's a very important aspect of what D when can do. And I'm very happy to be a part of that, because I think it's important, and especially for young people. I also think the youth. We cannot forget the youth. I think that we need to we have an underserved population of youth, particularly now with social media and all the unique pressures that they have from bullying and social media and image issues that there needs to be a presence in schools or clinics that are tied to schools that can work with our youth to keep them in school, to keep them upright and to keep them from making poor decisions.
All right, thank you very much. Okay, we have another question. Commissioner,
yes, you have served in executive leadership positions in your professional career. Please tell us what you have learned from a leadership standpoint, from serving in these positions, and why this would make you an excellent choice for the CEO position at D win,
one of the things that I've learned, and I've said it before, that processes give You titles. You know that whether you apply as CEO or you apply for Chief of Police, Assistant Chief of Police, directors and but they don't make you leaders. They just give you titles. You can complete a process and get a title, but the people that report to you, that work for you, they make the determination that you're their leader. And I think in order to become a leader, you have to learn the organization. You can't come in knowing everything and treating people like you know everything because you got a title. You have to take some time surround yourself with people that want to help you move the organization in the right direction and succeed. You have to take in information patiently, and don't make disruptive change for change sake. I mean, being disruptive can be positive if you do it the right way, at the right time for the right reasons. But when you have an organization like this, for example, that have been successful with this employee group, when you look at the fact that in 2024 they were awarded a top place to work. And then you look at 2023 again, another top place to work award. And in 2022 Diversity Award. And so there are a lot of things that are working well indeed, when certainly we can make improvements anywhere and move the agenda. So what I have learned is the people matter. The people will determine if you're the leader, and that starts with trust, that starts with direction, that starts with setting the appropriate example. Doesn't mean you have to be passive, but you have to understand that you work with a very diverse group of people. Everybody's not the same. Everybody's not going to respond to the same type of management. So you build teams, you give people an opportunity to be successful. You set clear expectations. You measure those expectations to see if you're meeting those goals. And you do it as a team. You win together, you lose together, and you don't point fingers when you miss a goal, you coach, you build your team, and if you do that the right way, you will have more successful people than not. I did it in Detroit, coming in, arguably, after one of the more popular chiefs in the history of that city, and having to come in and build my team, many of which were, you know, extraordinarily loyal to the previous administration. And we were able to do some some pretty amazing things as a team. And when I got invited to Washington to talk about our crime reduction, I awarded my team. I didn't do it by myself. I did it with my team. And so to answer, a very long answer to your question, sir, is that the people matter, the people matter, and you and titles mean nothing to them if you're not leading them. So that's that's what I've learned. That's the most impactful thing I've
learned. Thank you. Thank you. Ma'am.
Chair, are there any follow up questions? Mr. Parker, yeah,
just have two follow up questions. One, we know how involved you were with the behavioral health specialists going out with the 911, cause, and you have it in two precincts. Just recently, we have approved the authorization for administration to offer the services to the other law enforcement departments in Wayne County, as well as to have it at each precinct inside the city of Detroit. Do you see that causing any problems or challenges in implementing that?
I do not. I'm excited about that. It's saving lives. It is absolutely saving lives. I see it every day. I see it every day. There are people who are alive today because of this training and because of these resources that would not be because we did not have any additional tools. Now we have mental health co responders. We have behavioral health specialists on a police car with a police officer that's able to to immediately triage these problems and talk through things that cops are just not qualified to do. Police officers are not mental health professionals. They may know a little something about it, but it's the mental health professional on that car that gets the work done. We use them on special response team. We go out to barricade a gun, gun people now, and I will tell you, beyond a shadow of a doubt, we would be out of tools and resources, if for not those behavioral health specialists that are patiently talking through these folks and getting them out of those homes where they're holding folks hostage, or they're they're thinking about committing suicide by cop. It has just been tremendous. So no, I do not think it will create a problem, and I look forward to the implementation, and I'll be excited to help. Okay,
just another question, another area. In the last 10 years, we have had three different CEOs. You would be the fourth of your selected can we believe that you're going to make a commitment for the next three years under this contract, particularly since I know your name has been mentioned to run for mayor of the city of Detroit, but are we going to get a commitment from you for at least a three year contract.
You absolutely will. You're right. That has. My name has come up a couple of times, and I made it very clear, as honored as I am for someone to consider me for that role, I am not interested. This is where my passion is. I've had 28 plus years in law enforcement. Have done a lot of things in law enforcement. We have, you know, not bragging, but we've have record crime reduction. We've accomplished some things that we never thought we would. Hired over 800 police officers since I've been chief, highest educated Police Department, one of the highest, not the highest, one of the highest in this region, with our education programs that we've brought in from Cleary and Wayne State University's School of Business, built a few buildings. I've checked a lot of boxes, honored to be invited to the White House twice to talk about our crime reduction, things that people never thought they'd see in Detroit. 750,000 people came to our draft had a good time and no bad stories to tell. Still we have problems and we're not perfect, but we have made some tremendous growth in our organization, and I've done a lot of things there, and I've completed that journey proudly. This is what I want. This is my education. I'm passionate about mental health. I'm tired of seeing people end up in a criminal justice system that shouldn't be there because of their condition. I think there more could be done. A lot has been done, but more needs to be done. People are committing crimes and ending up in jail. They don't even know why they're doing it. And if there's anything that I can do to help that process along, I see officers having to use fatal force on people who are charging with them, at them with knives, and seeing what we've been able to do with the the CIT units and the CO response units, and to see the implementation of tools and resources and counselors talking people literally off of ledges, if We can do that in a small slice of DPD, imagine what we could do if we had this county wide and with some consistent policy behind it and training. No, I will stay three years, and I'm committed to doing so.
Thank you. Are
there any Mr. Glenn, yes.
Mr. White, quick question, can you share with us your views about the Sud population that we serve, and if you had an opportunity to make an impact, how would you do so, yeah,
my views on the substance use disorder population. I. Is a lot of people are self medicating. There are underlying mental health issues that are causing people to self medicate, whether it be through drugs or alcohol or both. I think that we have an opportunity to help folks, and I think that they're salvageable, and I have seen it with my own eyes, in my own family, people who were once on drugs, who are not on drugs anymore, and who are productive members of our society. So there are no throwaway people. There's just opportunities to help people. And sometimes you have to dig a little deeper, because their issues are multi layered. Oftentimes, people are dealing with trauma and abuse, that self medication, of that liquor or that. We see it in law enforcement with PTSD officers that see so much and deal with so much. You know it's not like on television, when one hour you resolve every problem. These officers go home and they can't sleep at night, and we have seen that, and we have gotten them to help, and they are now productive members of our department. And so I think that there's an opportunity here with Sud to be proactive, to get the information, the training out, the conversations, the behavioral modifications, and again, more services, more services and more areas, and taking services to people where they are, and not always asking people to come to you. The proof of proof of concept is already there. You look at the mobile mental health vehicles and how they're moving. We've got D hot, the homeless initiative, and your your teams are working with us on that, and those people are getting help. They are actually getting help. They're getting resources. They're getting and then we're able to slide them over into job training and get them jobs. It is absolutely amazing. So I think that the Sud work is important. I think that we need to change our view of people who are on drugs. Again, they're not they're not addicted to drugs because they want to be. It's an addiction and a disease, and they should not be thrown away and cast aside because they have this addiction. Some people have addictions to Amazon, and we treat them differently. And they got boxes on their porch so they have forgot to even order. And I think that's the next Sud, but I say that a little bit tongue in cheek, but, but in reality, that's how it starts, right? It's that dopamine rush of doing something that makes you feel good. You know, you got people that swipe endlessly on their phone. That's an addiction, so why not treat all the addictions the same and create opportunities for people. Thank you. Thank
you. Any other follow up questions? Miss did? Miss Ruth, come get online, Miss blackshire,
and she or she is, I just logged on. I keep getting kicked off, but I'm on
Okay. Thank you. I didn't know if you had any questions, any follow up questions for Mr. White, I don't know if you got to hear most of the interview or not.
I I did off and on. So I do have a question that, madam, yes, go right ahead. Yes. Hello, Mr. White, my apologies for not being in person, but I do have been able to witness some of the things that you have done in a community, and I heard some of your response about the youth. So I'm a big advocate of youth and being proactive. I say a lot of times that we have to give mental health the swag. Can you give me your take on being proactive with our youth? As far as mental health, the bullying social media?
Yes, ma'am, I heard you miss Ruth. I'm sorry. Were you were you done, or did I cut you off by accident? No, I was done. I think proactive involves being on the ground and not waiting for the problem to come to you. We do a lot of things proactively with our youth, and we're able to do some things that the kids want to participate in, but we also do a program, two programs, called the Brotherhood and the sisterhood, and it's not a Scared Straight program. I do not like Scared Straight programs. I don't think they work. I think most of the kids are in the problems that they're in now, because they're already scared. We have to make them safe, and so we practice safety, and we're very deliberate in the message that that we talk about our a lot of our officers are engaged in a program. I don't let them wear their uniforms when we're interacting with the kids, because, frankly, a lot of the kids don't have a good relationship with the officers, not our officers, but officers in general. And so we meet them where they're at. Again, it's very important, as opposed to bringing people to you, sometimes you got to go where they're at and you and you start with conversation. What we require when we're working with the youth is that the conversations is led by someone they can identify with, not not me. I'm ancient to them, and they don't. Necessarily hear me when I talk. I talk after someone that's young and identifiable to them can reach them. One of the things that we had talked about doing this year is working with the pistons to get the pistons to get the kids to us, and then let the pistons, who they will be enamored with, talk to them. And then we come up and bring our message about gun safety and drugs and mental health, there is a tremendous, as you, as you likely know, a tremendous mental health, underserved mental health problem in our schools. There's a tremendous amount of bullying going on in our schools. A lot of is driven by social media. And the answer isn't to just simply turn your phone off. These kids are heavily reliant on social media, more so than I ever thought. Doesn't make sense necessarily to me, but I know it's real because I keep hearing it from the young people that are having fights and making poor choices because of social media threats and controversy. The other thing that we don't have with the young people is conflict resolution and de escalation. There is, you know, the remedy for every problem is a fight in the in for every fight that's lost is violence, and so we have to bring some solutions to the kids. So that's my ideas about being proactive. And I have a whole lot more, but we don't have time.
Thank you. Any other follow up questions? Thank you. I do have I do have one. I'm sorry. Thank you. I do have one follow up question. Mr. White, you've already given us a description of your first 90 days and what you were doing. You spoke a lot about building trust, which is great. I think that's that's very important. But I'd like you to just briefly speak to what you see as your top two challenges. Should you take on this position? It can be, I don't know if it's 90 days, 30 days. I'm not putting a day limit on it, but what do you see as your top two challenges?
Well, I think the first challenge, it really kind of feeds back to the trust piece, and because I'm a police chief, and, you know, there will be some people that think that I'm walking in the front door with a paramilitary mindset of policing, and that's just not the case. And so that will require some some time and some trust. You know, I'm not, we're not breaching front doors for drug dealers here, I mean, and I haven't done that in years anyway, because technically, I'm the CEO of the of the police department. I oversee process, policy and people and managers ensuring that things are done correctly. So that'll be a challenge, just to to for the staff to get comfortable with me. But the but this, the second challenge really, is to ensure that we are executing the strategic plan that this board approved, and that we have hit those six pillars, and that we're consistently hitting those six pillars, and that we're measuring, that we're hitting those six pillars, and that we use data, and then I need to understand the data that's already being presented so that I can present it to this body, I need to understand the metrics and if we're meeting our objectives, and why we're not meeting our objectives, and what, you know, what are the obstacles to meeting those objectives? Are they people based, or are they obstacles financial? What are they and how do we break down those walls and move forward and do it in such a way where everybody's part of the solution, and any and those, you know, just getting that buy in, and I'm confident I can do it, but, but understanding, we got to measure what we're doing. If we're going to present that we're successful, we have to be able to prove it. And you know, you don't have to do that in a harsh way, but you have to do it. And you have to use you have to use the data. The data is going to tell you everything you need to know, and you have to put the work in to ensure that you're meeting those expectations.
Thank you very much. Are there any other follow up questions for Mr. White? Mr. White, I know you've had a long day, so thank you very much. Mr. Conley, is there anything else we need to say to Mr. White before we let him go?
Nothing at all. Madam Chair,
all right. Mr. White, again, thank you very, very much, and you can look forward to hearing from us in the next few days.
Thank you for the opportunity to have a great day. All right. You too. All right.
Committee members, we're going to take a break. We have will reconvene at three o'clock, but we will take a break at this time. Committee members, well, yes, because the next interview is not until it's not until three o'clock, if I'm looking at this correctly, that's correct. Yeah. Recording stopped you.
recording in progress,
convening our search committee meeting for today, October the 14th. We do have a final interview on the candidate is on the way. Mr. O'Connell, is there anything you'd like to share or say to us before the candidate arrives?
Madam Chair, our next candidate, Michael Hunter, has been given his instructions, and once he gets here, we'll be ready to start. All right,
and I think board members, some of us, probably me, mostly ask some follow up questions. So we need to ask the same questions to this candidate. Hopefully we remember. I tried to take a note, but I may need some help remember,
and we can keep the same order in terms of asking of the five questions. Mr. Wash, I'm glad you've joined us today, so you know you can feel free to trip in. Is Miss Ruth, are you still with us? I know that was a long break, so she may have left, because I know she was traveling. Yeah, okay, are there other people on the line? Trent, I'm just curious. You don't tell me who, but are the other people on the line. Okay, okay, so, Ms Turner, so at the end of this committee meeting, let me look at my notes, we will need to again do the good and welfare, correct. Yeah. All right. All right. Well, welcome Mr. Hunter, Miss Hunter. I don't know if you know everyone here, but we're going to just introduce ourselves so you'll know what board members are present. I'm Cynthia tag and I'm the chair of the CEO search committee as well as chair of the board, Mr. Kinloch.
Yes, I'm Jonathan Kinloch Wayne, county commissioner and a member of the D when board and vice chair of the CEO, CEO search selection committee.
Mr. Parker. Bernard Parker, member of the board and on the search committee. Angelo
Glenn, member of the board, member of the Sud oversight policy boards. Thank you.
Eva Garza de Walsh. Member of the board. All right again, welcome Mr. Hunter, so we have some questions to ask you. I know you've been here all day, so you kind of know the drill by now, and there may be follow up questions from board members here on the search committee. So with that, we'll get started. And our first question is from Commissioner Ken lap.
Thank you. Madam Chair, good afternoon. Mr. Hunter, good afternoon. D1 has recently added the call center, the crisis care clinic, mobile crisis operations, par services and CCBHC clinics as departments to provide needed services for D win clients, given this current expansion and de win services, where do you see D win in one to three years, and how would you lead D win into the future?
Thank you for having me, and I really appreciate this opportunity to have made it to this level. When I look at my career in this network, I see where D win has been, I see where we are, and I see where we're going, and I see where we're going, because I'm part of that initiative on a smaller scale, even today. So when you mentioned CCBHC, I have successfully managed and run an organization that was a CCBHC, and when you think about the crisis stabilization unit, I am currently running an organization that has two crisis stabilization units. When you think about the par that is associated with the crisis stabilization unit that is included in what I'm doing today, and as I've navigated this network over the last 20 years, I think that this is the prime time to take advantage of all of the momentum that we have behind CCBHC, because we're looking at not just serving the people of today, but where people will have need tomorrow. Every indication that we have says that the people of tomorrow will be more and more so ready to address their mental health, substance use disorders, developmental disabilities, and any of their social determinants that are having an impact on that. So I think the D win has to be that leader. So when you think a year from now, we should finish our projects that we are currently working on, and when you think three years from now, we should be well established as that industry leader, I think that we have to make sure that when people think about Detroit Wayne, integrated health network, they see progress, and they see a beacon of light, and they see the momentum that they can get behind, and they see leaders, not only in this county, but also in this state and also nationally, because that's the talent that we have, and we just have to continue to cultivate it. We have to take advantage of the fact that we already see those needs, and we're already leaps and bounds ahead of other networks that are doing the same kind of job that we're doing, but they don't have that insight. They haven't seen that far down the road and we have. And so when I managed a organization on a smaller scale with a $50 million budget, and you say, Okay, well, we're going to do those same things here, I think about all of the energy that went into the ingenuity to get us that far, and to have those conversations, and to meet with legislators on the state level, and to meet with legislators on the federal level, and to say, hey, we need this momentum so that we can really provide services to everybody that needs it, regardless of what door they're coming in. So look over our shoulder for the last 20 years, and we can see we've torn down the silo successfully where we had substance use disorders over here, physical health over here, mental health over here, IDD over here, and recognized that we were so inefficient and fragmented. But now dwynn is leading that charge, and we got to continue that momentum. We got to make sure that when people need us, they can find us. And it's not hard to find. We can't be that best kept secret. We have to make sure that people know this is how you get it, because Why be so generous as a network, then nobody takes advantage of the services that we offer. So I think that if we in the next year, three years and 10 years, even, we are going to be so far ahead of the world that we will be that renowned leader that people are looking up to, and I think we got to that momentum.
Thank you.
Parker, yeah, the wind serves people of all ethnic backgrounds. Wayne County being a very diverse county based on your experience and the statistics available regarding behavioral health services, do you think that there are disparities in these services given to certain ethnic groups? If so, what would you do to ensure equality of services for all? Ryan served by de Wynn
right now, D Wynn is servicing a very large county, and I think that when people think of Wayne County, they think nuclear, and they think Detroit. And we have to make sure that we are consciously aware and that we are moving on purpose to those outer communities and those smaller subsets and those smaller subcultures that we have within the county as a whole. So when we think about Wayne County, we can instantly think about its large African American population, and we can definitely put our energies towards that and make sure that we are educating that culture and make sure that we are trying to overcome some of the past traumas that we all know that are prevalent in that community. But one of the things that we got to make sure we never forget is that there's a subculture of people who have this diagnosis that we're working with. So when you think about first I'm my person of color, and then you think about and I also have a mental illness, a substance abuse disorder, a developmental disability. Then you say, Okay, now I also have to deal with that. So I think dwin has to be sensitive to those things and be ready to address that with that culture, and not be afraid to educate and re educate that same culture at the same time. I think dwind needs to say, hey, look, just like we're doing for this culture, we're going to do for that culture, and that culture could be our Hispanic American culture in southwest Detroit. And we can say, hey, don't forget that we have to go down here, and we're going to support and educate them and let them understand that they're not a subset, that they're not a stepchild, if you will, just because this population may be bigger, because we want to make sure that nobody feels left out, that there's no stigmas anywhere in our network. We want to make sure that we are proud that we're serving the Hispanic community. We want to make sure that we demonstrate that we're proud, that we're servicing the Arab American community, that we are not afraid to say, Yeah, we got a lot of presence in the Arab American community, that we know that there's value there, that we know that they need these services too, especially when you talk to any one of these cultures that I've mentioned so Far, and realize that there's that underlying piece that says we don't talk about that in our culture, it's been taboo for so long that we're letting people die around us and giving other explanations of why they passed away, instead of saying he committed suicide, she committed suicide. Well, if d win knows that we need to step in and make sure we're using our creativity, thinking outside the box, and making sure we're hiring people and contracting with providers that look like those cultures so that they can help us get that message down to them. That's our opportunity is to make sure that we're developing that workforce that can get in there and help us with our message, and that nobody feels left out, and no matter what culture they're a part of, whether it's the LGBTQ community or any other culture. And remember I said there is a subculture of people with a diagnosis. There's a culture of people with a diagnosis, not a diagnosis, and those that don't yet know they have a diagnosis, but we got to make sure that nobody feels left out that it is okay to say, I don't know I have a problem. I don't understand why this is happening to me. And then we learning all that we have from mental health first aid, all that we have from the CIT, from the ride alongs with the police, that we use that knowledge and make sure we say, hey, now we have a vehicle for you to help you, and whether we think we're helping you on a smaller scale or a larger scale, we got to make sure we're doing that for every culture, and nobody feels left out. And I think we have that and can just continue to build on it.
Right? Thank you. Mr. Glenn,
good afternoon. Mr. Hunter, good afternoon. Okay, as CEO, you will be in charge of over 700 employees and a budget in excess of a billion dollars. Although you will have this large responsibility, you will be responsible for answering to the dwin board of directors, who are the final decision makers for dwin. Please describe how you would manage this organizational structure and how you have worked how you have worked with a similar board of directors in your professional career.
Thank you. Over the last 20 years, I've been able to navigate this network with a company that started, as I said earlier, with a cardboard box as the front desk. And the budget then was very small. That same organization today is, is, is a $50 million a year company, and I manage it today. And I would manage D win with the same tenacity that I would that and this. Very conscientious, one of the things I learned very early on, and this goes back to when I worked at McDonald's and when I worked the register, they said your drawer should not be under, right? You should not come in short. But I said, Well, wait a minute, I don't think I should come in over either. Why not? Because if I come in over, that might mean I cheated somebody, and we don't want that part either. So I wanted to make sure that my drawer came out balanced every single time. That's the tenacity that I work with today, that I want to understand exactly where the money is going. I want to understand that we are. I want the corporate culture to be one that is embraced by everybody, that we're very transparent, that we are operating and coloring inside the lines, that we know that this is our mission, that this money is budgeted and earmarked for A, B and C, and that's how we're using it. So whether it was a billion dollars, or whether it was $50 million or whether it was the $200 in that till I would manage it as if I was responsible for it, and as if I am ultimately accountable for it. And teaching people the value of $1 so when you have other people's money, thinking about my daughters, it's easy sometimes to spend it as if it's just magic on that card. But when you educate people, and you say, Listen, a billion dollars sounds like a lot unless you're dividing it with a billion people, because now you just have $1 a person. So we still have to be very conscientious about how we use the money. We also want to make sure that that money is going to help us be the catalyst of sustainability when it's not a billion dollars, because we've been in this industry when it was not a billion dollars. So we know that that could come again, or we know that the value of a billion dollars may not be the same 10 years from now. We want to make sure that we are conscientious of how we're using that money. We want to make sure that we put progress, I mean, processes, in place that says that if we have some hiccups, we got some efficiencies we can rely upon. If we can't spend the money on this, that or the other, like we used to, we want to be ready with contingency plans, so in case things get lean, or if we have a hurricane or a flood and can't get to that money right away, we want to be ready for that. And we're going to be ready for that, because we're going to empower the workforce, and we're going to train everybody to embrace this same corporate culture, so that if it is money that can potentially be wasted, then we all are going to avoid it. But if it's money that can be managed properly and we can save it, and it can be part of our sustainability plan, everybody in the organization should be free to embrace that same thing and give us ideas and say, Hey, let's try this and not that, and never making anybody feel persecuted for giving us their opinion or even raising their hands saying, Hey, I don't know if that was quite above board, because we're all human. Make the mistake. Okay, let's look at it. Let's figure it out. Let's fix it so we don't make it systemically. But everybody should feel like they can help us with that mission, as well as the person in charge.
Are there any follow up questions? I think commissioner has one. I got a follow up question, okay, okay,
can you share your views as it relates to the Sud population, and if you had an opportunity, what are some of the gaps or changes that you would make with that population?
I've had the fortune of as a leader in mental health. I've had the fortune to also work with leaders in Sud as well. So I spent my time not just thinking about the company that I work for, but I've always reached out to other providers, and some of them are smaller, so that I can help them in whatever way they I could. And with the Sud community, I think that one of the things that I would want to make sure we do at D win is educate again and show them the support. Because a lot of times, people have not recognized that the Sud diagnosis is not in a silo, again, it's not by itself, because there's comorbidities a lot of times. So there's a bridge to that mental health side. There's also the social determinants of health. I think Dwan should be paying attention to that so that we don't forget that those influence the people that are suffering from a a substance use disorder, so that we can make sure that we design programming around them that is effective for them, and not a one size fits all necessarily. I also think that we have some opportunities to be creative before Sud was formalized into getting the mcbaps and the development plans and the cadc. The key to success for Sud services was the lived experience. So leveraging those peers and the recovery coaches and not treating them as if they are again a sub standard position, but they are the. Pivotal foundation upon which that industry gained its momentum. We have to, we have to, we have to tie into that more. We have to promote that more. We have to really, truly say this is the value that that position brings to the table, and not tell ourselves that we can fix it some other way, because every single person is important enough for this industry that we can do that for them. And when you think about being a CCBHC, and you think about the opportunity we have with the juveniles, look at how our culture has mainstream. Culture has normalized getting high off of marijuana and because it's legal, remember one time it was cigarettes, it was it was having the drug of cigarette. So now we have a new playing field to fight against. And so if we are paying attention to our adults, then we also need to pay attention to the youth that are going through it and helping them to prevent it and stay out of it, which means we're going to have to leverage technology, we're going to have to get creative. We're going to have to go down a road that says, Wow, this is 10 years, 1010, generations past me, but it's still worth doing. I had the fortune of writing and directing a TV a made for TV movie for PBS called Brother to brother dopest for dopes. And one of the things I wanted to make sure in that Emmy award winning movie was that we're not going to act like we have solved this problem for everybody. We're going to act like we're paying attention for everybody, where we're given a path for everybody, that we're showing everybody that you can be better. You don't have to succumb to this. You can be better than where you are today. And I think that's the opportunity we have at D when is to make sure that more people have that same opportunity, know that you can be better than where you are today, or where your past trauma has said you potentially can go, right?
I think you had a follow up question, yes.
D, when the wind has a board of directors, but we operate using utilizing a committee structure. Can you tell me you know, what has been your experience in working with committees? In these committees, as you may be aware, recommendations come from the CEO and his various leadership team, and those policies are discussed and or changed and vetted, and may not necessarily be the way that they were initially presented. How what has been your experience and interaction with a committee structure in that order over
the past 20 years? My committee structure actually goes all the way back to Toastmasters and Roberts or rods, rules of order, and deciding of whether or not it's Roberts or Rogers and if I can make a motion, or if I just move okay in the committee session. So when I think about committees, though, I think that when we get together, it is so important that everybody feels like they have a voice, and that when you're in committee, it doesn't mean that you are in charge. It doesn't mean that you are the ruler. It means that you are in committee, that you are a part of a collective. And I think that the most important thing a committee can do is never make anybody feel like their opinion is less than I think that a committee has to make sure that everybody feels like they have value, whether it's different than mine or not, whether we see it through the same color glass or not, I think is very, very important that everybody feels like they are a part of the decision making process. And then when you have a good, strong committee and a good leader, then what you do when that committee votes and that committee makes a decision, you come out of that committee and that principle, that regulation, that ideology is yours, and you own it. Whether it was the decision that you agreed with initially or not, you got to come out of that as if you had made that decision yourself. And I think that when you do that, you have a stronger organization, because they don't see Division at the top. They see a collective cohesiveness, and you're able to model for them and the organization. This is how we do what we do. This is how everybody is can give their input and feel comfortable giving their input and not feel like they're going to be attacked or ostracized because of it. So I think committees have to be very, very welcoming to the people on it and hear everybody out.
Thank you.
So I have a follow up question in this regard, Mr. Hunter, so this position of CEO is reports to the board, the D win board. It is the only position that reports directly to the d1 board throughout the whole network that we have, or the whole organization. So how do you handle conflict? Because I'm sure that they're going to be a time when what the CEO recommends and what the board recommends, maybe to our board thinks should be or to there's a conflict. So speak to us briefly about how you would handle conflict, how you would respond, especially if you can't come to a consensus or or compromise.
My My history has been that I am very, very I'm very, very accommodating to the people that I'm responsible to, and if I'm responsible to the board, my initial reaction is going to be, I want to make sure that I'm doing what you are paying me to do. I'm going to make sure that I am in line with your vision. I want to have the understanding that you have. I want to make sure that we are on the same page. And then if there is an impasse, the first thing I would ask of the board humbly is, is this an issue that is a regulatory issue? Because if it's a regulatory issue or issue of law, then it's very easy to say, I recommend that we take the side of the regulation or the law, and if it is not, then I think it's just a matter of having the mutual respect and rapport. And say again, like I said about the committees, I'll give my spiel, I'll give my pitch, I'll say what I recommend, and then the board will say, okay, yep, Michael, let's do that. But if the board were to say nope, Michael, not gonna happen, and I would say, Thank you for your time. All right, let's do the next best thing. Let's go to that contingency. Let's go to the next level. I've never been a corporate powder so I've never been somebody that tried to tear chinks in the armor that in the in the very structure and the foundation that I'm relying upon to be a model for the people working under us. So I think that I have demonstrated over the last more than 20 years on how to be a very, very good partner. Because if I can't be subordinate to the board, how could I expect anybody else to be subordinate to me, so I don't think that would ever be a problem between us.
All right. Thank you. All right. I have the next question for you. As the D win CEO, managing the clinical and administrative functions of D win will be very important to its success. Yet, the CEO will also be required to work with lawmakers, the media, community leaders and other interested parties in the state that are also critical to d1 success. Please describe how you would manage this responsibility and tell us how you have managed similar responsibilities in your professional career.
In my current career, as again, as I've navigated these last 20 years in this network, I have had that same responsibility to manage the clinical and the business aspect and one of the things that I have done as a leader is to make sure that I had people working with me on the team that were experts in their particular lane, especially in the clinical. So in the clinical, I don't pretend to be the doctor or the psychiatrist or the therapist, so I rely upon their expertise. And when it comes to the business side, I'm not an accountant by trade, so I would rely on an accounting department and etc. So I would make sure I had people that were strong in each category, so that collectively, we would make the best decision. I would always be looking for the opportunity to grow and develop that team as well, so that we always had the best talent at the table. I think that when it comes to juggling the the media and people trying to find out what the goings on are, is strictly sticking to our policy. If we have a policy that this is the chair that that information is going to come from. Then that's the chair, and we say no comment, and we don't look for reasons to try and circumvent that. We say, Hey, this is the path that we are going on as an organization. And then we go down that particular path. So being able to look is going to be very important, that I'm able to look down and see the vantage point from up here, and not try to get down in the minutiae day to day myself, because that's when I get lost in the forest for the trees, but really relying on good people and having a good team so that we can manage those opportunities that we have and that we'll face. And even on the clinical side, and administrators too, as you can appreciate, Mr. Parker, we got more than one location, so there's not it's not just this location that needs that leadership, right? You got to make sure that that leadership is permeating everywhere, not just one place. So it would be important to make sure that I'm in tune with all of that, and we have leadership everywhere, so that I can rely on. Confidently, similar to a president's in their cabinet, just having the right people in place to help you do the job properly,
right? That sounds good. Follow up questions. Anyone I know, I have a couple. All right, give me my follow up questions. Mr. Hunter, so let's talk about your first 90 days. You know, that's a critical period for a new CEO coming in. Describe a little bit about how you what you do, how you'd approach that first 90 days. Thank
you. I would approach that first 90 days trying to remind everybody that the momentum for that CCBHC, for the job we have in front of us to help the juveniles and the youth, and to build that relationship with health plans is tantamount. It is right. We are at the right time for it to happen in our industry. We are the first of our kind to do it. I think that we have a golden opportunity to see that to fruition. So I would try and make sure that I could survey the board to see where your mission is, to see where where your thoughts are, to make sure that I'm in line with that, and hopefully see that we can move that agenda forward. And 90 days is about right, so that we can make sure that we're on the path of success and building it properly. And then even beyond that, 90 days to make sure that we have in place what we need to manage the outcomes and see if we've built our team properly. And again, as I said at the previous interview, I would make sure that I am a student. I would not come in trying to act like I know it all, but I would try and leverage everything that I do know from having worked in this industry for as long as I have,
okay, great. I did have a follow up question regarding clinical but you kind of answered that in your comments and that you'd have clinical people on the team that you could rely on so because obviously you're not that's not your main area of expertise, so we've already answered that question. All right, thank you. All right, any other follow up questions from anybody before we go to the last question with Commissioner kenlock? All right, Mr. Commissioner,
thank you. You've served in executive leadership positions in your professional career, please tell us what you have learned from a leadership standpoint from serving in these positions and why this would make you an excellent choice for the CEO position at D win.
I think what I've learned most in my time as an executive is that people truly rely on the leader. People are looking to you for the answer, and one of the answers that I absolutely have to be comfortable with is the words I don't know. Because if I don't know, I need to make it my business to find out what it is. I need to make it my business to know so that I can lead properly. I don't want to mislead anybody. So I try to be very transparent. I try to make sure that when doing business, we have adopted the corporate compliance ethical foundation that everybody can subscribe to, and that we are showing the world our hand, if you will, as we move forward, because as a leader like that, then people have no apprehension about getting on board. People have no or little apprehension about getting on board and little apprehension about getting with the program at hand. And I think that that's the key to success, is making sure you got that workforce built up and that you put the processes in place that people can easily follow, and that you have embraced the network. This is a network for a reason, right? So I think all of the providers that we work with have to feel like they can come in a transparent forum. I think that all of the people we're serving have to have that same confidence, and everybody's going to be looking to that to that one leader. And if that one leader has a clear focus, and if that one leader is doing things the way that he or she is designed to do them, then I think that'll be very effective.
Thank you.
All right, okay, are there any follow up questions for Mr. Hunter, Mr. Parker, did you
have a couple questions? First, we know that you have run a juvenile program for us, a day program for the county that we provide the funding for and you have moved from Detroit to Dearborn. Has that caused any transportation problems for young people to have to go there daily? And if so, are you doing anything about that? Yes,
it has not caused a transportation problem. It was just logistics. So we made sure that we leveraged the vans that we have for that program, and we used to store those vans at Mack and mount Elliot. And now we've changed the hub. So the hub for those vehicles that are used for transportation for that juvenile program is the same property as the program, so it's easier to farm them out from there and come back to there, as opposed to coming from that side of town. And then, because we have people on the west side of the county as well, so we centralize where we're storing the vans. We will probably need a couple of more to finish that project. But right now, it's going pretty well. Okay,
the other question to kind of a follow up of the question about the board and being maybe feeling differently than you. I know that team wellness is a profit making company, and the final decisions are made by an individual that owns that company. Have you had any major conflicts with that? Normally, a profit making company is interested in making profit, and a nonprofit is usually want to put the resources back into a program. Have you had any conflicts around that? And how was it resolved?
I've been fortunate enough where I have not had that particular conflict, because although team Wellness Center is a for profit organization, we behave like we care about this industry, because we do, and the profit, if you will, that team wellness makes, does go back into programming. We try to lead the charge for innovation. We try to lead the charge for building on best practices. We have taken the opportunity to, like you said, build the juvenile program. We have the overnight program for people that are unhoused and these are unfunded. I remember when CSU was born for us at team we were experiencing times where consumers were acting out traditionally, and we were at Eastern Market, and we were taking people across the bridge to to the emergency room, and we were calling the police and and I said, Why are we calling the police to go across the street? Why don't we serve them here? Their treatment team is here, and we developed a program called SOS so we were going to stabilize on site, and this is without thinking about CSU, but it was the precursor, because we were taking the funding that we had, whether it was again, profit or not, we were using that money, without asking for any more money, to serve that population, and we built the SOS program that eventually became the CSU program. And that's the way we constantly look at things, is saying, Where can we help? Our mantra is, how can we help the system? How can we help the network? No matter what it is, we're called upon all the time to do so, and we're obliged and happy to do so as well. So I think that the fact that it was a for profit company never really came into play, because we really, really gave the money back to the project at hand in the network.
Just the last question. In the last 10 years, we had three different CEO you would be the fourth. And we, if you're selected, it would be a contract for a three year period. Are you committed to stay here for the three years? At least?
I'm committed to stay here longer than that. If you would ask me at the end of this, do I have any questions for you? My question would be because I don't believe you should hire anybody or promote anybody unless you are committed to their success. What is the board's commitment to the success of the CEO? Because that comfort level is what allows me to know that I have your back, you have my back, and we're going to do more than three years. There's so much work to be done. I don't see me getting out of this until probably the Lord calls me home. So being able to do that at this level and to take the creativity that I've had in the past and use it here, I think is key when I look at what I've done in this network. So when you talk about CCBHC, I've done that in this network. When you talk about CSU, I've done that in this network. When you talk about helping the DD population, I've done that in this network, when you talk about working with multiple providers, I've done that in this network. When you talk about helping this network, I've done that in this network. And if I can do that and be creative on a smaller scale, imagine in my mind, what I can do on a larger scale, I believe that I. See myself doing this from now on. I believe that you can see yourself working with me from now on. And I believe that collectively, we can see ourselves better and better and better and better and better and better. And I don't think that there's any stopping us if we get this train moving.
Any other questions for Mr. Hunter, I do have one more, and then I'll ask, before I ask my one question this, Ruth, are you? Did you make it back to miss Ruth was traveling. She's on the committee, so I don't know if she's doesn't appear like she's still there. So all right, does anybody else have any questions before I ask my question? I don't want to hog it up. Okay, so, Mr. Hunter, this is, as you mentioned, you go on would go from a smaller microcosm organization to a much larger one. What do you see as a top two challenges, or as a new CEO for yourself, what do you see as the top two? I know there's, there'll be many things going on and you have to pay attention to but what do you see as the top two?
I think the top two challenges will be to make sure that I have the right perspective for the vision for the organization. So if I got the right perspective, I've met with the board who I am responsible to. I know your mission, your vision and your current plan, then I think that'll be the highest priority for me, because armed with that knowledge and armed with that permission, then I can lead effectively, and I can bring it to pass, and you can evaluate it as we go. And I'm always, you know, serving at your pleasure. So I think that's really the highest priority. Is to make sure that I'm on the same page with the board. Okay,
what about the second?
I think the second thing is to make sure that I have the opportunity to build the confidence of the leaders that I was mentioning, so the people who are already working at D win need to be confident that, hey, they made the right choice. Hey, this guy understands it. This guy gets it. This guy is listening to me like he said he would. And I think that if I can do that, that would be the second priority, because those two levels right there are going to set the tone for modeling for the rest of the organization, and that's going to be key that foundation.
Thank you so much again. Any any final questions for Mr. Under we've had a long day. Mr. Hunter, we really appreciate your giving us this time you met with a number of individuals, and we really appreciate your responses for us today. So with that, Mr. Conley, is there anything else that we need to share with Mr. Hunter, or say to Mr. Hunter, I
would only ask if Mr. Hunter had any questions of the committee.
I do not. I would like to say thank you all for considering me. This has been an opportunity that I will always appreciate, and anything I can do for this network, I'm committed to it, so thank you for having me.
All right. Well, thank you so much. You have a good rest of the day, and we'll get back with you in a few days. Mr. Conley will do that. Okay? All right, thank you again, and thankful you been doing because we're familiar with the organization. All right. Committee members, let me see, I'll take a minute To finish up your notes, and Where's my agenda. I
recording stopped and
a recording in progress.
Take into consideration as we continue our discussion.
Madam Chair, not sure how you wanted me to provide that information. Did you just want me to read it off. Just read it.
Do you have, like, a summary of what? How is it? We had two different groups this morning, right, correct. We had community
stakeholders and community, community stakeholders and governmental officials. And then we had staff interview for the first section. Okay?
Um. At the pleasure, if it's pleasures pleases the board, you only had about five or six people in each one of the groups. Is that correct? That is correct. Can you just go through and do you want them to just go through and read some of the feedback? The feedback that way we all hear it, so can take it in consideration. Or do you all want to do
for each session? Right? Is there any summary that you were able to? Summary
I was prepared to provide the committee with the information the first two groups I didn't
miss Turner. Is that your hand is that's your hand up. Yes, I can do that. Okay? I guess we will take a break, okay, so she's gonna, they're gonna make copies for each of us, and we'll read them on our own, okay? And then, and then we will have a chance to have some discussion, and that will lead to who we might recommend to go forward, all right, so we will take a break while he makes the copies. Thank you. As soon as he comes back to probably be About You.
Okay, all right, all right, we're ready to reconvene. Reporting in progress. Thank you. We are reconvening the CEO search committee. Today is October 14. Thank you, Jody, for giving us the feedback from the stakeholder groups. There have been a few shifts in our in the attendance here. So Miss blackshare. Can you do a roll call? Just one more time to So for the record, we know who's here as we finalize our discussions today.
Yes, Madam Chair, Dr tag present, Commissioner Kinloch, present. Thank you. Mr. Parker here. Thank you. Mr. Glenn, present. Thank you. Ms, Ruth, are you joining the call via zoom? MS, Ruth, are you still on the call via zoom?
Madam Chair, you do have a quorum. All right, thank you. And for the record, I know Mr. Wash was here earlier. She is no longer here. All right, so we now have copies of the feedback from the staff and the stakeholder interviews earlier today, has everybody had a chance to read them? I see looks like you have. Are there any questions for Mr. Connelly relative to those?
Madam chair just would like to say, just looking at the comments, I can appreciate the clarity of these comments. They're very straight and and pretty much, I'm getting a sense that they're pretty much just fall in line to what I was thinking as well. So they're very well thought out comments as relates to what they observed based upon the questionings, right questions,
any other comments because of what I want to do is like we did before, I want to ask each committee member to state your your recommendation for who to move forward. We don't have to have a lengthy discussion, unless you all choose to. But then once you state that, then we will need a motion to have a formal record of who we are recommending as a committee to go forward. So before I do that, let me just ask one more time, any discussion about these, about anything today, any information you received about the interviews, anything anybody want to to share? All right, seeing no hands, may I start with you, Mr. Parker, of the two candidates that we have interviewed, and in light of the feedback that we've gotten, who do you recommend to go forward? I'd
like to recommend Mr. James White to move forward.
Commissioner kenlock.
I would like to also recommend Mr. James White to move forward to the full board for consideration.
Mr. Glenn, yes, Mr. James White as well.
All right, and I also recommend Mr. James White, based on all of the proceedings for today. All right, yes,
madam chair is a motion in order. Yes, it is. Madam Chair. I move that the CEO's search committee recommends to the board D win, that the chair that the selection for CEO for D win be Mr. James White, support
moved and supported any further discussion. Madam
Chair, also under this res under this motion, I would like to ask that, as part of this, it just be an advisement on that the search committee continues to serve as an advisory role to the chair throughout the negotiating of the contract. Support.
All right, any further discussion? Just
a comment. I want to commend Mr. Michael Hunter. I think he did a good presentation, and I think is someone that hope will be able to continue to serve to win and his capacity. Another one. So yes, put down the record.
Yes. Thank you. Yeah. Team wellness has been a good partner to D when I do support that, any further comments before I call the question? All right, all in favor, signify by Aye. Aye. Any opposed, Any abstentions? All right. So what we will be doing from here, then, is that recommendation will go to the full board at its next meeting, which is Wednesday, October 16. At that time, Mr. Conley and I will present the results from the CEO search committee recommendation. We'll speak briefly about the process. Perhaps we'll have a resolution, Mr. Conley, let's you and I talk about the way, the best way to present this to the full board, and then we will have a vote. There was a question about whether we needed to have just the majority vote of the quorum, and I've asked Miss Turner to to just reconfirm that that is all that's needed, rather than a two thirds vote, but she'll confirm that, and we'll have that in time for our proceedings on Wednesday at the full Board meeting. I think yes, Mr. Parker,
just wondering if we should also recommend that the chair would have negotiations with the potential candidate in order to present it to the board at a subsequent meeting,
Madam Chair, I would support inclusion before we adjourned, the meeting had sent adjourned. Yet that the intent of the resolution, intent of that resolution that you draft is to authorize the chair to commence negotiations with the candidate, to recommend a final contract to the board for for adoption. That would be part, yeah.
All right, that sounds good in that and that that will, course, won't happen on Wednesday, that the resolution will be on Wednesday vote
Wednesday that you'll commence, negotiate, you authorize, commit whatever time practicals with between you and the candidate. All
right, through the Chair, if
I may. Yes, you may. I just want to also remind you that ultimately, the executive committee would be the body that would work work with the chair on the actual terms of the contract.
That's why we were asking to allow the board to authorize the search committee to continue to serve in an advisory role. Yep. Do Yeah, okay, thank you.
Does that? Is that a conflict in your mind? MS, Turner,
through the Chair, if I may, historically, the chair has already done that, but if, typically, the chair would report back to essentially the CEO search committee, if it's still in existence, and the Executive Committee, who would then make the recommendation with regard to the contract to the board, that's
pretty much saying the same thing. But yeah,
in the past it has. In the past, it has so if this body,
yeah, that's what we had, we had with the intent, when we voted on that, that the recommendation would come from the committee to the exact to the full board, or Yeah, to
the Chair, If I may, recommendation for the appointment of the CEO goes directly to the full board. But typically, with regard to the contract we go through, you go through the Executive Committee, and I'm fine. I'm fine with that, with the chair obviously working out things with whomever the candidate is, and then reporting back to the executive committee. So they're just two separate, typically, two separate matters.
Okay, so understanding the clarity from the lawyer, but it is the intent of this body and the resolution to be included on that it was still exist only for the purpose of advising the chair at, you know, you know, at her option, yes, yeah, but we do understand the contract goes through the Executive Committee to the full board upon once she once she finally negotiates that contract.
All right, any further discussion? All right, all in favor. Signify with i, i Any opposed, Any abstentions? All right, so we do have a recommendation. I'm not going to schedule another search committee meeting at this time, we'll get to the full board and this Turner, do you think we will have that confirmation of the of the of the vote count relative to this recommendation prior to Wednesday? Or do you want to wait till Wednesday? I don't know when you'll have it ready. Madam
Chair, you you should have an opinion, written opinion, by tomorrow. By tomorrow, okay,
so then that can be shared with the search committee. You'll give that to Miss blackshire, and she can share that with with all the search committee. Actually, I guess the whole board needs to see it so that we'll be prepared for Wednesday. All right, any. Further discussion on any matter related to the proceedings for today or for as they relate to Wednesday, the next step. All right. Trent, are there still people online trying to decide if we need to do the good and welfare piece?
All right, so I'm going to ask Mr. Glenn to assist me and read the good and welfare statement, and then we can see if there's anyone who wishes to comment. Mr. Glenn,
yes, members of the public are welcome to address the board during this time, no more than two minutes, the Board Liaison will notify the chair when the time limit has been met. Individuals are encouraged to identify themselves and fill out a comment card to leave with the Board Liaison. However, those individuals that do not identify themselves may still address the Board issues raised during good and welfare public comment that are of concern to the general public and may initiate an inquiry and follow up will be responded to and may be posted to the website. Feedback will be posted within a reasonable time frame. Information that is not HIPAA related or of a confidential nature will not be post posted, but rather responded to on an individual basis. Are there any public comment at this time.
Trent, will you ask that question? Please? You
all right then, yes, we can allow that public comment or to speak now. Thank you.
Hello, may I be heard?
Yes, you're being heard? Can you?
Yeah, my name is Megan reigno. I'm a member of the Detroit documenters, and I'm flagging that I think you violated Michigan's Open Meetings Act. I believe that the conversation and the decision making was held without us having access to the audio, and then you came back on to tell us a foregone conclusion, and I think that this has been a total violation of the Open Meetings Act.
Okay? Miss Turner, yeah, we don't have to respond. We'll look into that. Thank you for bringing that to our attention. We have legal here. They've been with us the entire day, so I will ask legal to respond if they think that is the case, not now, no, not now, but we will respond. Thank you.
All right, please go. Please proceed. Whoever that is,
Hi, my
name is Kimberly,
and I was just wondering.
I listened to the whole proceedings, and I listened to Chief white, and I also listened to Mr. Hunter, and it was clear that one candidate had lots of experience, direct experience with community mental health and D Wynn, and one who has no CMH experience at all, and we, Mr. Hunter, did not even get a vote. Like, I don't understand how that happens out of someone who really has a vision and has been doing the work not even be considered? I Thank you, ma'am for your comments and your question. We will note that your your question, and we will according to the statement that was read. We will respond accordingly. Thank you. Is there anyone else that wishes to comment? Trent, you may ask that question just to be sure you
it's been moved that we adjourn and support it. All in favor, say, Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? All right, thank you, everyone. Um. You for your work for today, the meeting is adjourned. Brent, you may adjourn the persons on the Zoom, thank you. Dr tag. Dr tag, we needed to get contact information. So we needed to get contact information from those two individuals that made public comments, so we're just putting it in the chat. Applause,
