Which gives me an opportunity to help guide some of the policies practices and help hopefully shape some of the best practices in our industry and how we provide the best care to the most people for the least dollar amount. And I'm looking forward to a lot longer in the industry and hopefully making strides in some other areas as well.
Just a small follow up as president. Is that the Chief Administrative Officer of the organization, or is it someone above you?
Currently, the only person above me is the owner, and his title is CEO, but he that's the only person above me in the organization. Thank you.
Thank you. Mr. Glenn,
good afternoon. Mr. Hunter. Mr. Glenn, here are you good question number two, the Detroit Wayne integrated health network is the largest mental health agency in the state of Michigan, providing service for the population. Of this agency requires responsibility in many different function functional areas of the mental health field. Can you describe what you consider as the three most important programmatic, administrative or clinical functions of D win why these functions are critical, and what you would do to change or improve how these functions are delivered for our most vulnerable population.
I think that the most important role that D win has is to ensure access to service delivery to the most people. I think that if we are the best kept secret, then that's a problem. So if people don't know that we exist, the fact that we are a very generous and serving community, if there is no one to receive those services, then that's our biggest and most urgent task. I think that in looking at that, then we have to get creative and make sure that we have not painted ourselves into any particular cultural corners where we always done it this way, so let's continue to do it this way. I think that making sure that we are data driven and responding to what we are learning about the community itself, the people that are actually being served is is key to making sure that more people are served and trying to find out where our holes are in our in our bag of service delivery. And in regards to my third thing would be, of course, is the fiscal responsibility is making sure that we do and bring the most value care for the least dollar. And the least dollar doesn't mean do it where the service delivery is compromised or cheap, but that we're making sure that we're fiscally responsible with the dollars that we've been given, so that we can serve the most people. And when it comes to what I would have them do, it depends, because if I were in the position, I would first want to do an analysis and find out from the board what the vision and direction of the organization is organically, and then survey staff and find out what their perspectives are on that same mission and vision. And then once I've had the opportunity to gather enough information, then I could say, hey, here are some recommendations I have. I would be remiss to say, hey, you know what? I got all these grand ideas from the outside looking in, because my perspective would not be equal. And so I wouldn't want to have a skewed view and come in and say, Hey, do this instead of this, and this, instead of that when I don't really know the intricacies, so I would take the time to learn so that I could make the best decision as a leader. Thank you,
Commissioner Kinloch, not want to have your mic on.
Thank you, Madam Chair, the next question on Mr. Hunter, is the Detroit Wayne County Metropolitan area has a very diverse population, including a large African American population, the largest African largest Arab American population in the United States, a large Hispanic population and large and large populations of various other ethnic groups. The County of Wayne also has a very diverse socio economic population, from the gross points to the inner city of Detroit. Please describe your experience in working with very. Social, economic and ethnic groups, and how you would relate that experience to the diverse population of the county of Wayne.
So in my experience working in Wayne County in particular, we have served every community that you listed there, and we have made sure that we've hired people who were bilingual. We made sure that we definitely subscribe to the limited English proficiency policies and regulations, and then we've subscribed to services that allow us to make sure that we can communicate if English is not that first language, we also have taken the time to serve people deliberate, deliberately, where we have gone and done programs in or targeting those particular communities, for example, The Hispanic community, where we would have a Hispanic day, if you will, to celebrate that culture. We would have the LGBTQ culture. We didn't necessarily have a socio economic events, but we had events that were geared towards helping people who were less fortunate. So we didn't say, Hey, come here if you were less fortunate, but we presented opportunities for services and entertainment and welcoming packages and every effort to make people feel a part of a community and not ostracize or stigmatized to stay away. So it is all about doing it on purpose and not as an afterthought, like, oh yeah, we have these different cultures, and then trying to bring together. So when you have a large African American community as a base, and your conscientious of that, and your conscientious of some of the disparities that that community has had historically, you still want to be careful not to ostracize some of the people who are not of that culture, but are intricately involved or intricately getting services at the same time. So we put forth a huge effort to make sure that our service delivery is very inclusive where there is no clicks or schisms or people don't feel like this isn't for me, we also try to make each clinic feel like it is a welcoming environment. So if you were somebody in a higher socioeconomic status and you were used to going to a clinic that was esthetically a certain way. We want to make sure that the people coming to clinics from a lower socioeconomic background are experiencing that same kind of service delivery in that same kind of setting, so that that care is is is equal across the board, and nobody is disparaged and people feel like you care about them, and not just, not just a number. Thank you. Miss Rose,
good afternoon. Mr. Hunter afternoon. What are the top what are the top three challenges you anticipate in the first 90 days if you are selected for this position,
the initial challenge will be lessons learned, hopefully gleaning from the leadership what I should what pitfalls I can avoid from my predecessors and what has worked and what hasn't. And then there would be the internal culture when somebody from the outside comes in if I were elected, meaning I didn't come up through the ranks of the win per se, then you have people who are going to be suspect of you. And I try very hard not to tell people you can trust me. I know Trust is earned and you have to live your reputation. So I think that will be a hurdle, trying to make sure that there is a still cohesiveness of the team to capitalize on the things that have worked well. And then I think the third piece would be to actually make sure that I am giving credible information and feedback to the group, so that as I learn people are not taking me at the title, but they're still willing to be collaborative, so that I make sure that the decisions that I'm making are sound, because that's key. If I'm not making sound decisions, then then what I'm doing is not sustainable. So that would be important to me.
All right, Mr. Hunter, this is the last question. We have for you this morning or this afternoon. So you've applied for this position, and we'd like to know why do you seek this position?
I'm seeking a position currently because I have really not have I really enjoy this industry. I really embrace the network. I love the fact that we as a network are partners. That doesn't mean that we all do the same exact thing, but we all have a common goal for helping the people that are most vulnerable. And I believe that I have demonstrated over the last at least two decades my abilities to lead effectively in this industry and in this network and particularly and if I'm able to help more people at a higher level, then I'm anxious to do that. I believe that I'm helping a significant number of people at the level I'm at. I'm always looking to do more. And if d win believes that I can do that, then I would humbly accept it and take the challenge so that we can do more and better together.
Thank you so much. Committee members. Are there any follow up questions before we thank Mr. Hunter and allow them to go about this day. Any follow up questions? Any no hands. We want to thank you, Mr. Hunter. Mr. Conley, did you have any follow up questions or things given?
No, Madam Chair, I'm all set up. Spoken with Mr. Hunter. He has his instruction with regard to the next step. So we're all set. All right.
Thank you so much. Mr. Hunter, you have a good rest of your day and have a good weekend.
Thank you. You too. Thank you all.
You can take a minute and write some notes if you'd like committee members. Miss Brown, I know that you're on the line, but if you add with any of the interviews, have a follow up question. You need to let me know you're, you're you're able to do that even though you're not an official committee member.
Thank you. Madam Chair,
yeah, when is the next interview? Let's see. Let me look at the agenda, because we did have some changes in the schedule, so it at one o'clock. Okay, all right, yep, so we got a little break right now. Madam Chair, if I may. Yes, you may. Okay. This is Lillian blackshire responding 1230 we have a break, and at one o'clock, the candidate, Miss Kathy Dockery, did withdraw from the process. And so our next interview is scheduled at 130 which will be with Mr. James White Okay, that's a whole hour from now is there, is there? Is there a way that we can see if Mr. White might be available to come earlier? I mean, I know that this is kind of last minute, but it may not hurt to inquire whole hour is a long time to wait. Mr. Connelly, what do you think? Because not only do we have Mr. White, if he's not available, maybe one of the others might be available to come earlier. Do you support that approach? Mr. Family? Yes,
I do. In fact, if it is permissible, I can contact Mr. White to see if he's available. Now,
okay, would you do that, please? Yes, yeah, just a moment still. Guess, yeah, yeah, it's about, it's about moving everybody up, yeah.
Entry,
that's true. That's a good point. So did you hear that? Jody, I
believe the request is to contact everyone and to see if we can move all of them.
No, no, we just had a different thought on that. So Mr. Parker, Would you repeat what you said? One o'clock
there's one o'clock.
So I understand you want. You would like for me to contact Miss Blackwell, move her and leave everyone else the same. Yes, that's a suggestion. I will contact her and let you know shortly. Okay, thank you
wouldn't have to drive from home.
I will take a very brief recess until we hear back from Mr. Conley about whether or not the last candidate, one of the candidates, can be moved up to one o'clock given that the former one o'clock person has withdrawn. So we'll take a brief recess right now, about 10 minutes.
Recording stopped.
We'll take a recess until one o'clock. We're getting it together. We're flexible and adaptable. Thanks. Committee recess until One o'clock. You
a recording in progress.
Thank you everyone. Thank you everyone. We will. Now come back and reconvene from our recess, and we'll continue on with the interviews that we have scheduled. Mr. Connelly, we want to introduce the next person, please.
Mr. Conley, our Are you there? Okay, so is our candidate already Trent? All right, okay, well, we will like to then proceed on with our next scheduled candidate, and that is Mr. James White. I didn't know if Jody wanted to introduce him, or should we just go straight to the questions? I
I see there. Trent. Okay, I don't see anybody, so that's why I'm I'm feeling a little you take the agenda away and put Oh, now I see them. I'm sorry. Yeah, there you are. Okay, yeah, take the agenda away. There we go. All right. All right. Thank you, Jody. Did you want to introduce Mr. White, or should we just go straight into the questions?
Madam Chair, we have today for our 130 interview, Mr. James White, I have spoken with Mr. White and giving him his instructions. I didn't have opportunity to ask if he had any questions. I'll ask at this time. Did you have any questions? I do not, sir. All right, given that he has no questions, you are free to begin. Madam Chair, all
right, Mr. White, thank you for joining us this afternoon. We have the entire search committee here. We will go through and ask you a series of questions. And I would like to ask each committee member to introduce yourself before you ask your question, so Mister White can know who is who is here today. So we'll start with you. Mr. Parker, okay.
Bernard Parker, member of the wind award member, Chief white, could you please give us a detailed description of your educational background and your executive, administrative and managerial experience in the field of mental health. Yes, sir.
My education, I'll start with at the beginning of associate's degree from Wayne County Community College. I have a bachelor's from Wayne State University in sociology. I also have a master's from Central Michigan University and mental health counseling. I have a a business certificate, an MBA certificate from the Wayne State University, and I also have a leadership certificate from Michigan State University. As far as experience goes, I'm a licensed mental health therapist, limited license. Have worked under at least two doctors administering services. Also did an internship at the northeast Guidance Center, my focus area is PTSD and childhood trauma. Did some work in that area under one particular doctor. And as far as I'm sorry, sir, the second part of the question escapes me,
just you're going into it, what experience you have in the field of mental health? Yes, sir,
working as a limited licensed mental health provider, working under two doctors, providing services, also doing my internship at the northeast Guidance Center and working with their field Response Unit, going out and actually watching and participating in them, administering medication to those who were homeless but in need of services, is my experience,
and the first part of that was your administrative experience.
I apologize my administrative experience. I oversee a department of I have no specific administrative experience with regards to mental health other than the mental health co response unit that runs out of the Detroit Police Department. We have a co response unit that operates both out of our 911, call center as well as street deploy to help our mental health trained officers with a civilian co response. We built that system. I have limited oversight. There is a direct oversight that reports information to me as to what occurred on a day in and day out basis. As it relates to general supervisory experience overseeing the Department of 2700 men and women who are sworn and an additional 400 non sworn civilian professionals. Thank you.
Good afternoon. Chief white board member Glenn, second question, how are you today?
I'm good, sir. Thank you. How are you?
I'm doing great. Okay. Detroit, Wayne integrated health network is the largest mental health agency in the state of Michigan, providing service for the population. Of this agency requires responsibility in many different functional areas of the mental health field. And this is a three part question, and you describe what you consider as the three most important programmatic, administrative and clinical functions of the win. Why these functions are critical, and what you would do to change or improve how these functions are delivered, delivered to our most vulnerable population of people.
Okay, well, I think three of the most important functions is to provide mental health services, obviously, to the community, to make sure that the the the services are available, but there's information available to so that folks know where to seek those services. Advocacy is equally important that there are people within the organization that are advocating for those who are mental health consumers. I think that availability, positioning of services as it relates to the more than 300 service providers that you have, making sure that there is access to them, making sure that they are meeting the needs of our consumers, making sure that it's it's county wide that we're touching all of the of the counties, or, I'm sorry, the entire county, but all of the cities within the county, and that the services are readily available, doing an analysis of what's needed and ensuring that we are meeting our objectives. And I'm sorry, sir, the last question I did not write it down. Is it okay to write the question down? Of course.
So, so the last question was, and what would you do to change or improve how these functions are delivered to our most vulnerable population? Well,
I think before we can make any changes, we have to do an assessment as as to how we're performing. I happen to think that d1 is performing quite well, but in any organization, there's room for improvement. So the first thing we would need to do is to see where we could do better, and before we make those types of changes. But I think the most important thing that we can do is to ensure that people have access to the services and that there's an understanding that the service availability is there, particularly when you're talking about the most vulnerable in our community, oftentimes they are neglected, oftentimes they don't have access because they don't have the appropriate communication mechanism. They don't have the resources necessary to ensure that that they're getting information. So I think we would have to look at, how do we best deliver information to our most vulnerable population, and then go to those areas and accomplish accomplish that, whether it be our homeless population, that we where we know that our services are very much needed, making sure that we have an outreach component, which the one does, but making sure that it's responsive to the needs of the community, and that it's flexible. And certainly, we do that by looking at who we're reaching, the feedback that we're getting. We can do that via surveys. We can do that making sure that we have relationships with our hospitals, making sure that we have certainly relationships with our law enforcement, but other service providers as well our EMS. We know that our EMS are generally the ones who are called first, and making sure that they have access to what we offer and that they can provide the appropriate information to those in need. Thank you.
Thank you. Jonathan Kinloch, Wayne County Commissioner and member of the D when board the third question is, the Detroit Wayne metropolitan area has a very diverse population, including a large African American population, the largest Arab American population in the United States, a large Hispanic population and large public populations of various other ethnic groups. The County of Wayne also has very diverse social. Economic populations from the gross points to the inner city of Detroit. Please describe your experience in working with various socio economic and ethnic groups, and how would you relate there relate that experience to the diverse population of the county of Wayne.
Yes, good afternoon, sir. So first and foremost, I'll start with my experience working with diverse communities, working in the Detroit Police Department, a very diverse city. Particularly, we have areas that are Bangladesh, we have areas that are Middle Eastern. We have a very, very diverse population in the city of Detroit, and many don't know that, and we have to be responsive. We've done a number of different things to be responsive. We have our bilingual dispatchers in our call centers. Our communications are in multiple languages. Again, we do assessments in areas to really look at the need. We do an annual needs assessment in the community, and we really listen to the community as to what they want to hear. In our Southwest community, our Hispanic community in particular, asked for Spanish speaking officers, they asked for communication reports that are in Spanish, so you have to be responsive to your community, and I will tell you in 2020 I retired from the Detroit Police Department, and I accepted a position as the director of the metro Department of Civil Rights. My background in Detroit was in large part our consent judgments that we were under for over 10 years. And I knew a lot about civil rights. I knew a lot about how you know you have to be responsive to the entire community, but but representation is also important. The unique thing about getting the opportunity at a very unique time in the country's history, in 2020 when we were right in the throes of the George Floyd murder and the subsequent protests, it was unusual for police chief to be selected as the director of civil rights. So when I went into that position, it was some concern, obviously, with in light of what was happening, and my argument has always been, police, if there's nothing else, they should be protectors of the Constitution and civil rights. So I was very honored to get that role. But how it relates to your question is, when I got into the role in learning and working in a non law enforcement environment with a lot of professionals that were experts in their respective areas, whether it be lawyers or just executive managers. I thought I knew what I needed to know to get the job done, but I spent that first three to four months learning about representation and how to reach everyone, and one of the biggest things that you can do to ensure that you are dealing with a very diverse community appropriately, is listen to the community. Is listen to the needs of the community, to study what the community is asking for and to provide representation. And that representation has to be very thoughtful. It has to be not only reflective inside of the organization in which you are delivering the services, but it also has to be in how you deliver the services, as opposed to telling a community that may be culturally different than yours what to do. You have to listen to what they need and the people inside of the organization has have to be diverse as well, so that they are more open to receive the services we've learned a lot about culture inside of the police agency, whether it be how you engage, how you interact, how you approach different people, and sometimes we can be unintentionally offensive in that approach. So I think representation to answer the question is most important. I think listening to that community, visiting with that community, understanding the different cultural differences in the community, and they're not wrong because they're different, but they're certainly different, and you have to do so thoughtfully and with an understanding that in order to reach people, they have to have a degree of comfort, and you have to have a tremendous amount of understanding. Thank you.
Good afternoon. Mr. White, in your Ruth, good afternoon. That next question, what are the top three challenges you anticipate in the first 90 days if you are selected for this position?
That's a very good question, and I think about that question a lot. I think, first and foremost, I'm an outsider, from the standpoint of, I'm a law enforcement, police chief, and law enforcement in large part. A paramilitary organization. And those who don't know the role of a police chief would assume that I come with this disarma of policing, as opposed to that of a manager and a CEO. And as I indicated, you know, having worked with a variety of different folks in many different fields, and even in my role today, working with state lawmakers and federal and state partners, not all law enforcement, and certainly embracing and improving and increasing our civilian professional numbers in the police department, many won't know that. Many will look at me as possibly the police and and I'll have to do a lot of work to to earn not only their respect, but their trust. And you know, one of the things I've learned in leadership is positions are appointed. You can, you can get a title, whether it be police chief, CEO, but it's really the people who report to you that make the decision on if you're a leader, and to be a leader, one must trust you. The relationship must grow. It takes time. So my first challenge would be really working with the team, earning their trust and certainly making them, you know, really fill a degree of comfort with the fact that I understand the role difference from one to the other. You know, I'm not a police officer in the sense of, you know, responding to runs and things like that. I'm responsible for the entire law enforcement organization called the Detroit Police Department, and that's multifaceted. And then understand making them, you know, feel comfortable with the fact that I understand the multiple dynamics involved in a very complex organization like D when, whether it be, you know, the 123 plus 1000 people that you provide service to, or whether it be the over 300 service providers that you that you have, that are all uniquely positioned to provide specific services for particular a particular needs base, I'll have to spend a lot of time. I think the second one is very similar, is to, you know, be very thoughtful in the administration of change, not necessarily making change for change sake, making smart change and involving the employee group in understanding why we're making that change and what's necessary to improve the organization. You know, this organization has done a lot of good things. Just recently, awarded an award for top work group or place to work, from cranes, and so you don't have to fix what's not broken. You try to build on what's working. And so it will take time for people to realize that about me, and then finally, understanding the culture. I think the third thing for me would be a challenge, is to take my time. I am a task oriented person. I enjoy, you know, moving things forward and and being successful and taking on challenges, but doing so in a thoughtful manner, and understanding that things are working. And you don't come in and, you know, like the old cliche bull in a china shop, you know, you come in and you have to thoughtfully and methodically understand the culture of the organization. Each organization has a culture. Each organization have leadership and title, and have leaders that are not necessarily holding a title. And so for me, what will be challenging is really finding out who they are, forging a conversation with them in a relationship, and then, you know, level setting and setting expectations that makes sense, all the while understanding that people will be somewhat reluctant. I have a very high profile, because people see me a lot, and oftentimes is not in a good way. I'm usually when you see me, something bad has happened. And so when you have that person leading an organization that's very, very different, you will have some people who are very concerned as to what that will look like and how it will impact their day to day.
Yes, the final question for you, chief white, is, why are you seeking this position? I mean, you've touched on the fact that your work with civil rights in 20 and 2020 I believe you said you've also been with the department, the police department, for a number of years. So this seems to be something totally different in terms of your career, so help us understand why you're seeking this position.
Yes, ma'am. So 28 years in law enforcement, you know, I retired for that one year. I thought I was done when I went to the Michigan Department of Civil Rights at a time as I indicated, where the country was in crisis, and I wanted to make. Make, make an impact. I've always been passionate about mental health, some things that I've learned in my own family, watching the revolving door, aspects of it in my family, which caused me to pursue education in it so that I can help people in my own network that were struggling, looking at what PTSD does to officers, seeing the level of violence that they see on a day in and day out basis, and frankly, seeing what PTSD does to our community, I think that this is a an area that I can make an impact. I enjoy a challenge with 28 years I'm very proud of the work that we've done in DPD since I've been back as chief. I spent many years as an assistant chief. Prior to that, I came back to DPD because I thought together with the team that we had, we could do a few things. We could work with our unions. We could get the officers a very healthy raise. We can get our officers back to work. We could pull those officers that were in in suburban communities back, if we if we put the right numbers out there, because we knew we had a great department, we just weren't paying enough. So we we sat down and we were cooperatively with
think we're frozen here for us. Yeah, you.
Is there anything that we can do on our entrant, or does it take I don't know if you can hear us, but we seem to have lost your audio and your connection here. I
say that again. Trent please. He
wants to add
an audio problem or technology problem left the call center. Probably
okay, give him a moment.
I We can DoDEA you. Still there? Jody, are you still there? Jody,
yes, I'm still here. I'm trying to he's, I'm on the phone with him now. He's trying to rejoin. Oh, okay, great. Thank
you. Well, hold on, okay. Do
Madam Chair. He says he's going to join from another another device,
okay, but even if he we're almost done, so even if he phones in, then we could hear his voice. That's the main thing. Yeah, okay. I
I apologize, apparently I got bumped out.
Okay, we can hear you now, so that's great. So maybe you can just finish up. This was our last question, so it won't be much longer, but we do want to give you the benefit of hearing your full response.
Okay, I was just saying, I don't know where I left off. I'll just conclude with the fact that I enjoy a challenge. I've done a number of things in my career over the course of 28 years, having, you know, really accomplished most of what I wanted to do in DPD, with our education incentives, our raises, working with our unions, hiring over 788 officers since I've been chief. So pretty, pretty happy with where we are. We're not celebrating, you know, that we've completely mastered crime, and by any means, we're still way too violent, but we've been able to reduce crime numbers we haven't seen since the 60s. So we're happy with that. Continue to move forward. I've accomplished what I wanted to accomplish. Mental health is something that I'm very passionate about. I would love to to, you know, work to take things. The next level. I think that Mr. Doyle did a great job. I think he did an amazing job. And I want to continue to move the organization forward, to advocate for those who are in crisis and in need of services, and to expand the reach and the presence of D win, not me personally, but the presence of the win and the availability of resources, and I think I'm the person that can do it. I think I'm passionate enough. I think I have the energy. I think I have the leadership ability, and I'm excited to take on the challenge and the opportunity to work with the Board of Directors, many subcommittees, the substance use division, board and all the other employees and employee groups and the board of indicated, the Board of Directors, but the other boards as well, so the subcommittee board, so I'm excited about it, and I think I can do it
all right. Thank you so very much. Chief white, any committee members have any follow up or final questions for the chief white? Okay, so hearing none. Thank you so much again for taking the time to join us, and you'll be hearing more from us as we go forward with the process. Thank you. Have a good rest of your day and a good weekend. You too. Thank
you very much for having me.
You okay, Jody, we do have a couple of minutes. I got five. I have 156, so we've got the next person is Miss. Lori Sumner, yes,
and she is here. I've asked her to be placed in a breakout room. Clint, please confirm
Miss Sumner is currently in a breakout room.
Excellent train. A few to place me in that room. I'd like to give our Pre interview instructions. Thank you. Applause.
Mr. Conley, let us know when, when you're done briefing Miss Sumner and when we can start. No, it's just chilly, but I do have a jacket on doll or a jacket I
that her on the is that her picture? I can see what that is. That's the That's Dora. Oh, okay, I
I know, yeah, she does. I have experience.
Trend. Are you hearing Mr. Connelly? Because I don't know if when he needs to let us know.
Okay, if the committee is ready, the candidate is ready.
Okay, we are ready. I was just waiting to get word from you. Thank you so much. No problem. So you want to go ahead and introduce her, please.
Our candidate schedule for this afternoon, at 2pm is Miss Laurie Sumner, and soon as there she is, I've given Miss Sumner her pre interview instructions. She's indicated that she does have any questions. So we're ready to begin when the committee is and we are ready.
Welcome Miss Sumner, yes, welcome. Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. So again, welcome. Okay, this is the search committee of the win. As you know, we do have a few questions that we want to ask you. We've got all the search committee members are here, all five of us, so each one has a question, and we'll introduce ourselves to you as we ask the question, so you'll know who's who's speaking. So again, welcome. So we're going to start with you. Mr. Parker,
thank you. My name is Bernard Parker. I'm on the board of the win. So could you please give us a detailed description of your educational background and your executive administrative and the managerial experience in the field of mental health.
Okay, I sure will. And I would like to put in this caveat for the team. I'm actually coming to you all live from one every year we do any volunteer work ministries that I do with the young people of Detroit. So I'm actually in my volunteer office at Detroit at Pershing high school right now. So I tried to mute the background, and the principals promised to give me a quiet spot. But I'm very passionate about my ministry with the students, so I wanted to make sure I didn't miss that today. So I'm here, so I will try to mute the background noise. But to answer your question about my education and my experience with mental health, first of all, with my education, I have a bachelor's degree in business administration from Eastern Michigan University. I also have two nursing degrees. I have a bachelor's in science nursing degree from University of Detroit Mercy, and I also have a master's in nursing from the University of Detroit Mercy. In addition to that. I currently am about halfway through my doctorate in nursing practice, and which is doing my doctorate at Madonna University. I'm about halfway through that and with my experience in the mental. Field. You know, I actually, my experience comes from the hospital, acute care side of mental health. I have, I was with Henry Ford Health System for 11 for a total of 11 years, and within that time, I have had a couple of different positions in nursing, well, multiple positions in nursing leadership, but some of them specifically overseeing the behavioral health and psychiatric services areas and units at Henry Ford Hospital. I also have recently, besides my 11 years with them, I also recently have had six years with Tennant health at the Detroit Medical Center and with the DMC hospitals. I was a nursing supervisor for my first three years with them over Harper Huxley and receiving. And then my last three and a half years, up to this spring, early summer, I was directly the nursing director and the market director for behavioral health services for all of the DMC hospitals. And so that included overseeing the whole service line for psychiatric services, as well as overseeing all of the behavioral health inpatient units outpatient clinics, as well as the crisis center inside of Detroit receiving hospital. So, you know, I've had between the two health systems. You know, an extensive you know experience in behavioral health services as a nursing leader, as a psych nurse, as a director, as a manager and over the service line. Thank you. Thank you.
Good afternoon. Miss Sumner. Angelo Glenn, board member, yes, hello. Okay, so the second question is a three part question, okay, and the question is the Detroit Wayne integrated health network is the largest mental health agency in the state of Michigan, providing services for the population of this agency requires responsibility in many different functional areas of the mental health field. Can you describe what you consider as the three most important programmatic, administrative and clinical functions of the win? Why these functions are critical, and what you would do to change or improve how these functions are delivered for our most vulnerable population of people.
Well, the what's what I feel is most what we do, what do you win does, which I feel, it's which I understand, is most critical, because I have partnered with D win, of course, quite a bit because I've had behavioral health services and units in Wayne County when I was over Psych Services at Henry Ford Wyandotte, as well as these last three and a half years when I with the DMC hospitals. So I have a very good partner. I had a very good partnership with you all and understanding that we provide, not only the wind provides, you know, Psych Services directly to our adults, children, Gerald population within Wayne County, but also too. In addition to that, we are the administrators of those with D Wynn is the administrator. See, I'm saying we already as if I'm with the team. D Wynn provides services also as the liaison for those with Medicare, Medicaid and insurance needs, and making sure and that the hospitals are providing the services like they should for this most vulnerable population that we're dealing with, those in all generations with mental illness. So I do know that that is one of our most critical things that we do with D win, providing those services, being a liaison for making sure their their insurance services are taken care of that and that they are getting the services that they need, as well as providing support from them real time. So I do understand that D win has clinical areas where they are directly providing these services, similar to what we've done in the hospital, as well as the administrative side, in terms of making sure that the insurance is utilization management, you know, goes through properly and correctly, so that they get the services they need. And that also, too, in terms of. Services, which I'm very passionate about, that is a I think one of the most critical things that D win provides is the crisis management services, where I have actually worked firsthand with many of our D win representatives that have come directly to the emergency room and to the facilities firsthand to help make sure that the deputy patients get the proper services that they need, as well as efficient discharge planning. Thank you.
Thank you. Good afternoon.
Good afternoon.
I'm Jonathan kenlock Wayne County Commissioner and a member of the Board of Directors for d1 the Detroit Wayne County Metropolitan area has a very diverse population, including a large African American population, the largest Arab American population in the United States, a large Hispanic population and a large population of various other ethnic groups. The County of Wayne also has very diverse socioeconomic populations, from the gross points to the inner city of the city of Detroit. Please describe your experience in working with various socioeconomic and ethnic groups, and how you would relate that experience to the diverse population of the county of Wayne.
Yes, so I definitely have had experience in that because, as I've mentioned, with working directly for two of our large health systems in the that have presence in the Wayne County area, Henry Ford Health System and the DMC health systems. You know, I have gotten a chance to work with those diverse populations. And also, too, I've led a team, a robust team of as the director of behavioral health services from a nursing leadership perspective in both health systems, I've led a very robust group of psychiatric social workers who, first hand, we have worked with people from the various demographics. So you think of like, for example, I'm going to use in our down river area, just in that small area, just in that area of Wayne County, there's quite a diversity. We have, like, right near Henry Ford Wyandotte hospital. We have grozell, okay, and then we have, you know, Taylor Rouge. We have a quite a diverse group that we serviced from a psychiatric services perspective, when I was with Henry Ford Health System. Also too, on the on the when I was with the DMC overseeing Psych Services in from the west side to the east side. Also too, we were able to encompass our Southwest Detroit population as well as you know, right there in the inner city, which involved a lot of our indigent and homeless population. As well as being being a crisis center, we took care of all levels. We had celebrities that you know, from anywhere from local to sports to music celebrities that came in to get Psych Services, as well as the outpatient clinics near on the west side that I oversaw. So I really feel that I have had a really good, diverse background in working with our different populations, from the west to the east to the southwest, you know, side of our county, and also understanding their issues. You know, within as a nursing leader and within my doctorate program, we are really passionate about the social determinants of health, and in those social determinants of health, of with socioeconomic is one of the major is one of the things that I'm very passionate about because of the fact that we know healthcare access is not equal for all. So making sure that the different health systems that we interact with, and I know the layout and the footprint of our Detroit Metro Health Systems from I've taught at the ascensions and worked at the St John's, and, you know, work like I said, I've dealt I've also taught with Beaumont, which is now corwell. So with me being very familiar from an education standpoint, as a nursing school professor as well as a leader, a nursing leader in behavioral health, had a chance to work with these diverse groups and understand the needs that we have and that they have in our responsibility to make sure that everyone is taken care of equally, so that they can get their psychiatric services appropriately. I hope. Hope that answers your question. I
didn't it did.
Thank you. Passionate about it. Didn't mean to go off. Just wrote a paper about
it. It's always great.
Just wrote a paper about it. In my DMP program, I can say
good afternoon. Kenya, Ruth board member. The next question is, what are the top three challenges you anticipate in the first 90 days if you are selected for this position,
top three challenges always as a new leader when you come into an organization, learning, learning the people, learning our you know, I have invested time in looking at our structure with D win, but I think one of the top challenges is going to be learning our structure and learning how we all interact together with the various services that we perform, because people, you know that that's what drives our business. That's what drives our business. We you can have the greatest mission and the greatest vision and values, you know, in the world of which I think D wins mission, vision and values are good and very appropriate. I've seen some good work and good partnership I've done with you all, but getting to know the people on your team, you know, in all aspects, that is a challenge, because you you must assess everyone's level of commitment to what we are collectively trying to accomplish. So that's one of my main challenge, challenges, I think, is going to be, you know, just understanding our our structure. I know that we have some staff that I understand from that there are some D win staff that are that our office space, that there are some that are remote. And so really making sure those who are remote stay engaged with the mission of of what we need to do. So I anticipate that as being one of the the greatest challenges, the organism, you know, getting know the structure. And then the second piece, as I kind of related to that was, was getting to know the people. Because I feel that that is, is very key. I have had upwards, I've overseen in my leadership experience upwards of 100 to 150 team members at once. And I'm proud to say now, of course, it didn't happen, you know, all within all within a month. But I am proud to say that I made it my business, to get around and to get to to meet them, and to work with them and make sure I was available. So I think that's going to be a bit a big deal. And then the third thing that I think is really going to be a challenge is I really want to dig into where we are right now, and in terms of because every organization, of course, has a direction that we're going. But where are we right now? You know, from a realistic standpoint, in terms of financial in terms of compliance, in terms of what we are trying to accomplish, you know, as an organization, where are we right now in terms of that direction and in terms of financial, financial fluid, you know, fluidity, so that we can do what we need to do. So I think those three things are going to be the top challenges in the first 90 days. Thank you.
Yes. So I'm Cynthia tag board member. You've had a lot of experience, as you have stated, and also looking at your resume, and you've done quite a bit. You're already part of the network of D win in terms of the provider network. But why do you seek this position? What is it that's showing you to apply for this position.
I, yeah, I really, you know, I really feel that I've always felt that that reason why I went into nursing, that it was a calling, that it is, that it is a type, that it is a ministry. And I feel that I liked the fact of all the work in partnership that I've done with D win from the other side as a an acute care provider, I think it really gave me a good outlook as to the different aspects of the organization and the things that that the organization does and what they're trying to accomplish. And I felt that at this point in my career, since you know, I've done so much in nursing leadership, I really felt like this last position as the market director of the behavioral health service line. For DMC tenant, I really got a chance to do get out in the community a lot, and I found that so enjoyable I did. I've been where I worked with the Urban League, with our urban development, with the senior groups in terms of Geriatric and psychiatric services for our geriatric population. In my teaching as a guest professor with Madonna University and Lawrence Tech University and downtown, you know, and all over, I've gotten a chance to speak and reach students speak and reach our geriatric population. And then, like I had mentioned to Mr. Conley, my son goes to Detroit Pershing High School. My husband works at Detroit Pershing High School. I'm a volunteer mom and nurse at Pershing High School, and over the past two years, I've worked with these students and parents here on the east side, Seven Mile and Ryan area, about behavioral health services, psychiatric services, as you can see the backdrop. This is my office here at Detroit Pershing, my volunteer office. I have a lot of D wind resources. I'm the board here that have been able to direct the parents and the the staff too, as well as the community too and the children. So I really am excited about that, and I kind of felt like that experience these last two years with being more in the community kind of made me grow this way. And it also didn't help that I'm going to be very transparent. Our large health systems are constantly reorganizing. And after three and a half years, you know, I was privy at the level of leadership, I was that there was some reorganization and some things coming that would move the behavioral health services, possibly in a direction that maybe, you know, I felt was that should have been going in a different direction. So I said it was a great opportunity, after I've accomplished so many things with the with that team, in terms of compliance and things such as that, to go to the next level, and that is actually step out into the community and help from the other end of behavioral health leadership. So when I saw this position in hosted this summer, I jumped on it.
Well, thank you so much. It's been a pleasure meeting you. And are there any other questions from any of the committee members? All right, seeing none. Thank you so much. You have a good rest of the day, and you'll be hearing more from us through Mr. Connelly in the future. Thank you so
much. Thank you for the opportunity. You all. I appreciate that greatly.
You're welcome. You
I almost 230 we got a moment before our 230 appointment. I've got 223 so before our next person will be Miss Liz, we'll have to ask her. How do you say her name? I don't know if it's Kinsley or it's nicely. Okay, all right, thank you. Yes, at 230 so we got a couple of minutes. So yeah, we well, yeah, we Can recess until 230
recording stopped you.
recording in Progress
our recess has been, is we're reconvening now. So thank you everyone. We're continuing on with our interviews. Mr. Conley, would you like to interview our next person? Please?
Next candidate we have for interviews? MS, Liz nicely is nicely has appeared she's been given her pre interview instructions, and she has indicated she has no questions. She is ready when the committee is
okay. We are ready
presently.
Welcome, miss nicely. Thank you for joining us today. We have this is the search committee. There are five members here, and we have five questions for you today, so we'll introduce ourselves as we ask you the question. So we'll start with the first person. Uh, oh, I don't see I see a different picture. There. Are you there? Miss nicely,
I am. Can you see me?
Not yet, but I think Trent is working on it. We can hear you, though, very clearly. Okay, we'll go ahead. We'll go ahead and while he works on that. Mr. Parker, you want to, you want to start? Mr. Parker,
thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Bernard Parker. I'm a member of the wind board, and the first question I have for you is, please give a detailed description of your educational background and your executive, administrative and a managerial experience in the field of mental health.
Thank you. I have an associate's degree. First of all, I'd like to apologize. I just tested positive for covid yesterday, so if I cough or you can't quite understand my voice, I apologize for that. Well,
we're glad it's not in person, then
exactly I'm sorry. Yes, I have an associate's degree in nursing. I'm a registered nurse. Have a bachelor's in health services administration and finishing a Master's in Health Services Administration, slash public policy. My administrative experience is that I've spent 16 years of my 34 plus years in mental health and in this field, as a vice president of crisis services, worked a lot with jail diversion and utilization management. This is work for children and families in Oakland County and adults in persons with intellectual developmental disabilities and substance use services. I from there, then went to the state of Michigan, and I was a bureau director for Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities Administration. So I held responsibility for all the statewide pihp and CMH contracts, Sud contracts, worked very closely with the governor. I started the autism Bill, helped work with the legislator. I was the liaison to CMS for finances and all the statewide waivers. I also was the division director for the older persons division and for the veterans with the federal government. Excuse me. After that, I when I did some consulting work, I was an executive director of. A regional laboratory. I was an executive director and CEO of that laboratory and CEO of a hospital for some time that was going through some tough times and owed the state and the federal government quite a bit of money. So I brought in a team of individuals to determine whether or not they should declare bankruptcy and or proceed. I was an executive director of a group of providers within the Tri County area that started working with Michigan Medicaid health plans to provide services for those individuals as a as an integrated entity, I did some clinical work. I was a regional administrator of home health care, and I've done some work with the dual eligibles with the hospitals in our local community and across the country.
Miss nicely. We can't see you, but we believe your camera needs to be turned on. Take a look. Take a look at your device.
Yep, it says start video. The camera is on. Let me look. I apologize. Yeah, it says that my camera's on.
Okay, I
apologize.
Is there anything over your camera? Anything that your camera? No, there is, hold
on one second. Let me just look. But yeah, it says that it's it does say that it is. So I very much apologize. Okay, well,
all right. Well, we'll keep going. Just we like to see you. Trent. Do you have any other suggestions that is our IT person? Any other suggestions for Miss, nicely, so that we could see her?
Madam Chair, perhaps she could check the system tray on her device to see if the webcam is selected as her video.
It is. And I see that, yep, it does say webcam.
Do you have more than what one webcam connected to your system. Do you have an external webcam? I do
not think so. It's right on my laptop. That's okay. Is
the shutter open for the webcam?
I'm looking up that right now.
I apologize.
And we hear you loud and clear. We just like to, yeah,
I certainly understand. I can see you fine.
Okay, well, we'll just have to keep going, because we do have other interviews, I know, and again, I apologize. All right. Well, we'll go to the next question, then go ahead. Mr. Good
afternoon. Miss nicely. Angelo Glenn, board member here. Okay, second question, and this is a three part question, it goes to Detroit Wayne. Integrated Health Network is the largest mental health agency in the state of Michigan, providing services for the population of this agency requires responsibility in many different functional areas of the mental health field. Can you describe what you consider as the three most important programmatic, administrative and clinical functions of Detroit, Wayne, integrated health, next network. Why these functions are critical, and what you would do to change or improve how these functions are delivered to the most vulnerable population of people?
Well, I think one of the areas would definitely be the crisis services, the opioid epidemic, those individuals that are in crisis across our county. I think is absolutely critical right now. I think another area is children with the autism centers opening up. I think it's very important that we continue to decrease the amount of time it takes to get in to get that first initial evaluation, so I would keep my eyes on that. I also think that the idea of no wrong front door is absolutely critical to as in one of the areas to make sure that we are looking at so how I would monitor that, or how I would see to it. I know you'd open up your new crisis center. I know that the Sud and timely access to services is very important. So I would be, you know, very data driven. I would look at the providers providing those services. I would look at what we would be. Providing internally at D when I would also, you know, look out there as to see what was available as far as grants go, what, what the direction that the state was going, I would want data from the providers for autism services and and children services to see where else we needed to provide additional providers. I think that's very important. I would make sure that our providers understand that there is no wrong front door, that that we have to have timely access to services at someone in a crisis or dealing with the significant integrated problem, needs to be able to get right into services as quickly as possible. So I think we, I'd be data driven. I think I would be in conversation with providers, looking as to how we were doing, monitoring of them and making sure that that these very important areas were adhered to. I mean, I could go on more than three, meaning the veterans, meeting the homeless. So I think there's, think there's multiple areas to really be definitely watching.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question, Commissioner,
good afternoon. I'm Wayne County Commissioner Jonathan Kinloch and a member of the d1 board of directors. Next question is the Detroit Wayne County Metropolitan area has a large diverse population, including a large African American population, the largest Arab American population in the United States, a large Hispanic population, and large populations of various other ethnic groups. The County of Wayne also has very diverse socioeconomic populations, from the gross points to the inner city of Detroit. Please describe your experience in working with various socioeconomic and ethnic groups and how you would relate that experience to the diverse population of the county of Wayne.
So I think given my crisis work, given my clinical work in prisons, given my many, many years in community, also as a leader through the state of Michigan, I have worked not only frontline with all of the diverse groups that you had just mentioned and others, I think it's important to view them as stakeholders, to listen to them as to what their what their concerns are when they go to a provider, what their concerns are When they go to a front door of an organization, how we can be more sensitive to those different ethnic groups, meaning staff training. You know, we all have heard cultural diversity. Obviously, that's very, very important. But how does that trickle down to our providers? How does that trickle down with with compassion and empathy. So I think making sure that our providers are very well trained, and that we're hearing back from the stakeholders, and we're providing the services that are diverse for those specific stakeholders in different areas around Wayne County. Thank you.
Good afternoon. Kenya. Ruth board member. Our next question, what are the top three challenges you anticipate in the first 90 days if you are selected for this position?
I think, I think number one is when I always go into a new organization, it would be getting to know the culture, having an open door policy, so that you know nobody likes change, and if you come in, especially from the outside, I think the challenge would be making sure that I am Listening to staff, listening to the providers in the community, modeling behavior, so that we can build a rapport, and we can build a working relationship. So I think that that takes time, I think also getting to know the other groups of meetings that are happening. Where's the data? What are the audits? Where? What have we done with our, you know, with our finances, looking at the NCQA audit, what you know, when are we up for the next strategic plan? I think this role is one of which carries out the strategic direction of the board of directors. I mean, ultimately, that's what it is. And I think just making sure that that keeping in mind your mission, your values, your pillars, why we are all doing this to begin with, and that's why we have a strategic direction. I think another one is. Is the ever changing public system, I think staying in tune again, with, you know, my colleagues around the state, with what's happening at the state, all the other PHPs and CMHS, what's happening with the rates, where are we with, with that, with the state, what is the legislature moving? So I think that would that's always a challenge in this ever changing public health system. You know, what are the new rules and regulations that are coming out? What is happening with our legislature, perhaps, you know, proposing new, new bills. What's going on with our with our Medicaid health plans? Do we have a good relationship with all of them? I think that that, you know, that's a challenge, and that's really important. So some of those, I think, would be within the first 90 days of challenges. But also, you know, excitement to say these are, this is the system, and it's and it's ever changing and building a rapport, I think, with not only the internal employees, but also the providers at the local level within around the state and the state of Michigan.
Great. Thank you. Just a follow up question before I ask my final question for you. This is Cynthia tag a board member of D when, as a follow up question to the last one, what's the largest number of employees that you've had to oversee? You know, I don't know if you did that you have responsibility for. Do you know, in getting an estimate,
I do so, you know, I mean, I've been in an organization where, you know, if you're talking direct reports, it goes any,
not direct reports, not direct reports.
I would, I would say over the responsibility, probably 300 300
Okay, that's great. Thank you. Yes. So. So my final question, though is, as you have applied for this position, you part of a network right now, you know our systems locally and a little bit statewide, but why are you seeking this position.
First and foremost, I have a great passion for this population. I've spent my entire professional career working with individuals with mental health, substance use, children, families and IDD services. So I would say that's number one. Number two, I've seen Detroit Wayne come a long way over the years. I think the services have improved tremendously. I think the provider system has improved tremendously. I think that you are an organization that certainly can be a national model. And I think there's opportunity here within the state of Michigan to even further that. So that's, that's my will be my ambition, goal. I think again, that the you know, I know you. I've read your strategic plan. I think the direction is good. I know some of the providers. I know some of the leaders in the community. I know some of the leaders of the hospital. I think that you know, the direction of D win is, is just really, really promising right now. And I would be very proud, and that's why, not to mention, I work in Wayne County and and I mean, I live in Wayne County, and you know, for 35 years, and I have a passion for this, and I love what's happening in the city of Detroit right now, so
I will well, thank you. We hear the passion in your voice, board members or committee members. Do you have any additional questions for Miss nicely. Okay, seeing no hands, I want to thank you very much. Miss nicely for taking the time to come and be with us this afternoon, and you'll be hearing from Mr. Connelly in the future, so as we continue on with our process. So again, thank you very much.
I appreciate all of you. Thank you so much.
Bye, bye, bye.
Uh huh. Well, and we got 10 minutes, which is what we planned. You know, they have about a 20 minute interview, and then 10 minutes in between, so we can recess, or we can just, there's nothing to discuss. Mr. Connelly, is there anything you else you want to say to us? Because otherwise I'll do a brief recess for 10 minutes.
No, there's nothing. There's nothing, nothing I need to say at this point, I will take this opportunity to speak with the next candidate. Okay,
all right then, so we'll take a brief recess and we'll reconvene in 10 minutes. Right now, it's 249 we'll reconvene at three. You
Right,
yeah, no, see what she pulls out. I
i Look, but I know, yeah,
I know that I ain't
taking on no more than I can handle, though, because this one, hello, got me busy. Got me very busy. Hello, Can y'all hear me?
Yeah, Ken is
picking up. I got Hello. Can
y'all hear me? See This story? No Problem.
Hello. I
Trent will start in 60 seconds. Yes, 301, we'll start in 60 seconds. I
Yeah, we just have two left. Look,
I eliminated her by All right,
we're ready to start Trent. Recording stopped. I like that. Quote. Recording in progress.
I like that.
Thank you, everyone. We are now returning and reconvening from our recess, and we will continue on with our interviews. We have one coming up now. Mr. Connelly, are you ready to introduce our person? I
am ready. Madam Chair. Madam Chair. We have our three o'clock candidate. Mr. William Ward, he is ready. I have spoken with Mr. Ward and given him his pre interview instructions. He's indicated he has no questions, and if he has been brought over into the main meeting we are ready to begin. Okay,
thank you, Mr. Ward, are you with us? Good afternoon. Mr. Ward, good
afternoon. Dr, Sheriff. Dr, tech, yes,
yes, yes. I think we know you from before. You used to be a member of the d1 team, if I remember correctly. Well, welcome to welcome to our search committee meeting. We have all five search committee members are here. We have five questions for you, Mr. Ward, and each of the Met committee members will ask you a question, so I'll have them to in this to state their name and before they ask that question, so you'll know who's speaking. Okay, all right, we'll start with you, Mr.
Parker, Bill Ord, how are you doing?
Commissioner
Bernard Parker, member of the wind board. First question is, please give a detailed description of your educational background and your executive, administrative and managerial experience in the field of mental health.
Again committee, thank you for allowing me to interview for this position today, I'm very fortunate to be here. I am. I have a pretty significant history with with D wind and its predecessor, the Detroit Wayne community mental health agency when it was part of the county. My first position out of college was to work for the county executive the late great Edward H McNamara, and one of the assignments that he put me on early on in my career was assigning me to the agency at the time. At the time the agency was in the process of re procuring its provider network, and was creating something called the managed care provider network. And the executive director at the time, Dr Alpha Stewart, assigned me as the staff to help create those RFPs which were eventually issued, which then turned into the MC. PN system, which operated within the network until 2015, after after I left the county, I went in the private sector for a while, but eventually came back to do my graduate study at Michigan State University and then transferred to Wayne State University, at which time we took a job with the Wayne State School of Medicine, who had been hired by dwin at the time to actually embed clinicians and training staff at 640 temple To study the mcpn system. This was the, I think, the second year in its existence. And I think the county was trying to understand if the if the mtpn system that they had created was working at the time. I believe one of the MCP ends had just gone bankrupt, person, several network, and they wanted to make sure that the stability for the safety of the patients, that the network was going to be moving forward. So I stayed there for a year and a half and helped work on the clinical protocols, which were recommendations made by Wayne State School of Medicine, to to d win, as well as creating a three year training plan, although this isn't my next position wasn't directly related to mental health. It did have a huge component in it. I went on to work for the Detroit public housing system at DHC. I was the director of management, analysis and planning there at a time when the agency was struggling, both financially as well as operationally. Eventually, DHC went into HUD receivership, and I was named the Chief Compliance Officer, and the oversaw all major construction for the organization, and that was enlightening, because you were seeing the challenges on the mental health and substance use disorder side, from the other side, from the programmatic side, from although we didn't have any direct relationship with D win, we did think it was very important to have a collaboration with them, and we've met on numerous times when I was over at DHC, I returned back to the authority at the time, in 2014 when it was when it was created, I was happy to be named the first Chief of Staff for dwha At the time, which is now d1 and had oversight of communications, the Office of the CEO, human relations, government relations, general supervision of the staff, as well as board relations. So that's how I got to know some of you as board members, I was specifically assigned to all committees, with the exception of the program committee, and was probably the first staff to be assigned to that the program or to the to the bylaws and Strategic Plan Committee as we created that, as we understood that trying to execute the vision that the board had set aside for for staff, I left after three years and went to southwest counseling solutions, where I oversaw their adult outpatient clinic, their housing Resource Center, their children, family youth clinic, whether juvenile justice program with Wayne County and the Head Start program, it was kind of a critical point. When I was at Southwest. We kind of had to realign the organization because it had operated for the previous 10 years under the mcpm system. And then had that, with the mcpn system going away, we kind of had to restructure on how we we did operations. And then, which led me to my current position, which I'm the executive director for network 180 network 180s legal name is the Kent County Mental Health Authority. We are the mental health authority for the fourth largest county. We are the largest single CMH in the state. Whereas, you know, d1 holds the designation of CMH and PHP network, 180 only holds the CMH designation and as part of the Lakeshore regional entity pihp. I started in 2019 The organization had about 150 employees. Today we have about 450 employees. We had an annual revenue about 150 million. We've increased that to 254 million. We. Fully implemented our CCBHC program, including adding some direct services like a CT outpatient therapy. We also have built out a full crisis continuum, including behavioral health crisis center, which opened this past May, and we did this all during a pandemic. So I'm pretty proud of the work that we've done in Grand Rapids. We I think we've really become one of the models for mental health in the state of Michigan. Thank you.
Good afternoon, Mr. Ward. Angelo Glenn, board member, question number two, and this is a three part question. Detroit Wayne integrated health network is the largest mental health agency in the state of Michigan, providing services for the population of this agency requires responsibility in many different functional areas of the mental health field. Can you describe what you consider as the three most important programmatic, administrative and clinical functions of the win. Why these functions are critical, and what you would do to change or improve how these functions are delivered to our most vulnerable population of people. I
well, I think the probably the most critical component, which I think every CMH in the state of Michigan struggles with right now is ensuring that there's quality access to care, especially as it relates to this vulnerable population. Oftentimes we are looking to improve our penetration rates into into the population, specifically looking at what the barriers to care are out there. And I think the accessibility question is probably the one that we struggle with the most. And I think from a programmatic standpoint, in an administrative standpoint, do we have those touch points throughout the community where individuals can access care? It's one thing to set up an access line. It's another to actually bring the care to the individuals I talk about. One of the innovative projects that we did in Grand Rapids to improve this access was to actually embed clinicians at the public housing agency in in Grand Rapids, we saw the engagement rates go way up on that campus because we actually went to them. So I think it's a matter of making sure that you get the service to the individuals. If the individuals can't get to them, probably the second critical area is, how are we funding the services to make sure that we are delivering to the appropriate people? You know, the one of the challenges I've always faced with the mental health code is that we kind of have our priorities inverted in the fact that the first episode of care that are paid for is the highest cost in care, as opposed to the investment in the community dollar, as opposed to an investment in, let's say, an inpatient dollar. So the way the priority of it is is kind of inverted. So I think if you can keep people in the community, then you're not going to have to use that inpatient or that crisis dollar. And probably third is just getting the word out. Is messaging, making sure that people understand that there is a place to call or there is a place to go, or that the mental health D win is there for all the citizens of Kent County. I thank
you.
Thank you. Madam Chair, the next question is the Detroit Wayne County Metropolitan area has a very diverse population, including a large African American population, the largest Arab American population in the United States, a large Hispanic population, and large populations of various other ethnic groups. The County of Wayne also has has very diverse socio economic populations from the gross points to the inner city of Detroit. Please describe your experience in working with various social, economic and ethnic groups, and how you would relate that experience to the diverse population of the county of Wayne. Also like to introduce myself. I'm Wayne County Commissioner, Johnson kenlock, and I'm a member of the Board of Directors for D when. Thank you.
Thank you, Commissioner. Great question. And I think you guys have all seen my resume. Know that I'm born and raised from Wayne County. I actually was born in the city of Detroit, 10 high school in the city. Even though I work in Grand Rapids, I've also I live still in Wayne County, so I'm very familiar with the various diverse makeup of the of the of the county. I've been very fortunate in all of my professional careers to be exposed to a wide variety of individuals. Obviously, when I worked at Detroit Public Housing Authority that was a very diverse and challenged economic and socio population, I prided myself on connecting with the residents that we served. One of my roles at DHC was I was responsible for convening the resident Council, as well as conducting all of our annual reviews of the development so I got to know individuals at all of our 16 developments on a pre good basis, and would it would interact with them often, oftentimes on on Friday nights I would, I would stop over at some of the resident Council presidents off houses when I was At D, when I think I was trying my best to make sure that we had a employee makeup that was reflective of the people that we serve, without having individuals that reflect what the community is. I think we have a greater ability to serve the diverse population that we are charged with. That's another reason why, when I was at Southwest Solutions, I made it a very, very strategic decision to make sure that our employee base was reflective of the people we serve, especially given where the location of that clinics were, we were primarily in southwest Detroit. We had a workforce that reflected the Hispanic population that we served, as well as the the Arab American population, I was happy to say that we actually did have a psychiatrist on staff who who spoke Arabic so she could deliver services to individuals in in in their native language, which was really helpful. We also hired a number of bilingual clinicians so they could then deliver those services to those individuals in in their native language. Thank you.
Thank you.
Good afternoon in your roof board member number The fourth question is, what are the top three challenges you anticipate in the first 90 days If you are selected to this position?
Great question. Thanks. Mr. I believe that the community, the public mental health system, is entering a pretty challenging environment. Going forward, we are being asked to do things that not only will challenge us as a system, but challenges as a as you know as D win as an organization, I think your first challenge is going to be the funding issue that's going on right now in the state of Michigan. The there is widespread agreement among all the PHPs and the CMHS that the current system is not adequately funded, and it is a reflection of the ending of the public health crisis. You know, if you look at the Medicaid numbers from before the pandemic, we currently have about 300,000 less individuals on Medicaid than before, than before the pandemic, and that's critical, because obviously the capitation payments from the state of Michigan are based on the popular Medicaid population. It's not based on the need of the community. So if there's less people on Medicaid, that means that, you know, d1 is going to get less money. Yes, I think there's opportunities in advocacy with Lansing to to change that. And I think there's a general reflection of it in the in the 20 some history year that I've had working in the system, I've never seen the state adjust rates twice, and they have now, so they adjusted rates in April, made those retroactive to October one, and then just last Wednesday, we received word that they are going to adjust rates again for 2024 and we don't even know what 2025 is going to be. I think the second challenge that d1 is going to face is, it's, from my understanding, is that d win has been given provisional status for CCBHC. CCBHC is the future for mental health. And in order to do that, a you know, I would have to first look at what what your plan of correction is, and what it needs to be done, and how quickly it needs to be done. Because when you move from the capitated payment for the non CCBHC services, and you put the CCBHC services into the prospective payment methodology, you're going to free up dollars on your capitated side, so it's within your best interest to implement that program as quickly as possible. And the third thing is probably optimizing your crisis continuum. You know, in Grand Rapids, we have fully implemented our crisis continuum. And we with the final piece being the urgent care and the 24 hour CSU, which opened in in May of this year, and we've seen a steady building month over month of those two programs. You know, we since, since May, we seen a hunt 700 individuals in our urgent care, and we've seen 292 individuals in our CSU. And we've seen a recidivism rate, a readmission rate of less than 7% so we've been able to kind of optimize making sure that those individuals are not frequent flyers and keep coming back to the crisis center. The second thing is, optimizing that crisis center is really going to have an effect on your bottom line, we've we, we have 50 less inpatient admissions a month in Grand Rapids right now. The translation into that, if you, if you put that out on elongated that's $6 million a year off of the budget and two $50 million budget. It's very significant. I can only imagine, if you know you had 200 last submissions at D when, how that would affect your billion dollar so I would say, Yeah, financial, CCBHC, and then your crisis continue. Those would be my top three priorities in the first 90 days.
Thank you. So I'm Cynthia. Tag, we know each other from previous your previous time here at d1 and or the Mental Health Authority, as it was a call before d1 name, you already in the system. Bill, you know you're, you're, you are already part of the statewide network you're already providing services, and to apply for this position, you're coming back full circle. So why are you seeking this position? Give us some feedback on that.
You know, I one. I'm Wayne. County is near and dear to me. So to open up this position was for me, could be a life, life goal. I
I
was having a conversation with the former executive director, Dr Stewart, and she's, you know, she has been one of my best mentors my entire life. And when this position opened up, and I said I was thinking about applying for and she said, you've worked there almost three times. Bill, this is someone's telling you somewhere at a higher level that this is the job that you should be applying for, because it's just this organization has had a profound effect on my career. Professionally, I don't think I could have done the things that I've done in Grand Rapids if it wasn't for the experiences I had, either at D when directly or indirectly, working within the provider network. So I It looks this is it? This would be something that I think potentially could be the job that I retire from, because I just have been part of the mental health system, specifically in Wayne County, for almost 25 years. I.
All right, thank you so much about giving us that insight committee members, so any of you have any further follow up questions? All right. Seeing no hands, I want to say thank you Bill for coming, and you'll be hearing more from Jody in terms of any next steps. All right, okay.
Thank you very much.
Have a great weekend.
All right, we just got one more. I have 325, so we only have five minutes. So I think we can kind of stay here. Instead of me doing a recess, but we'll just keep the floor open. Miss Brown, are you still on the line? Ma'am, yeah, okay, you've been mighty quiet. I haven't been ignoring you, but I didn't see your hand or anything. No, I've
been working, but listening
when I can. Okay,
great. I'm glad that you're with us. So, okay, good. Well, we're just going to pause for a few minutes, I guess, four minutes now, where we do our notes, and then we'll do our last appointment interview at 330 and then after that, we need to have some discussions about about these interviews as well as what our next steps might be so, but we just got a few minutes, so just uh, enjoy The pause.
Recording stopped You.
Okay, everybody's here so we can really start Trent
recording in progress.
All right, thank you, everybody. We had our brief recess. We're now ready for our 330 appointment. Jody, please introduce the candidate. Absolutely.
Madam Chair, our final candidate of the day, miss. Look. Brooke Blackwell is here. She's available. She has been given her pre interview instructions, and she is on the call and ready to begin. When you are
okay. We are definitely ready, right? Welcome, Brooke. I think we all know you. So just gonna be there, take a little familiarity here and call you broke instead of just Miss Blackwell. But thank you so much for being with us this afternoon. So there's all five members of the search committee are here. We have five questions to ask. Each committee member will ask you a question. I don't think we need to introduce ourselves, but you can if they want to, but you do know who we are, so we'll start with you. Mr. Parker,
well, because I introduced myself to all the other Kansas, I'll do the same. Bernard Parker, board member of the wind first question, and we know a lot of your accomplishments here at the Wynn, but give us a detailed description of your educational background and your Executive Administrator and managerial experience in the field of mental health.
So educational background, I have a master's in organizational management. I have been with Detroit Wayne for just about 12 years now. I think the experience that I bring to mental health care, I think it is all about and I think we all know this here is about putting people first. Everything that we have done as an organization. People come to rely on us looking for their behavioral health care needs. People look to us for guidance and support and protection.
We have
over through my tenure over the last dozen years, been able to set up programs and supports to help our most vulnerable citizens live more inclusive lives. I have through my time at Detroit Wayne, and even before that, with working with the county, helped to set up programs for persons with mental illness, with working with our IDD population and our Sud population to establish programs, whether that be on the opioid side, whether that be working with our schools to set up programs and supports, working with our provider network to ensure that individuals have those opportunities to create a more inclusive environment and have access to care. We often hear that we are in a behavioral health care crisis, and I think that the biggest crisis that we have is access to care. So whether that be working with our legislators to ensure that we have adequate funding, so that we have the appropriate funding to establish these programs and services, I think that over the last several years, being able to acquire funding to establish those programs, whether that be for our crisis care centers, I've been able to work with our legislators, work with our provider network to ensure that we have those funding available to have programs available to. Have supports available for the people that we serve so that they have these opportunities within Wayne County and within our region. Thank you. Thank you.
Good afternoon. Brooke, Angelo, Glenn, here, board member, good afternoon. Okay, second question. This is a three part question. Detroit Wayne integrated health network is the largest mental health agency in the state of Michigan, providing services for the population of this agency requires responsibility in many I'm sorry. Excuse me, let me start over the Detroit way integrated health network is the largest mental health agency in the state of Michigan, providing services for population of this agency requires responsibility in many different functional areas of the mental health field. Can you describe what you consider as the three most important prop programmatic and administrative or clinical functions of the win, why these functions are critical, and what you would do to change or improve how these functions are delivered to our most vulnerable population.
So one our most important clinical programs. Let me see if I got those right. One our most important important clinical programs, what I would do and how we would implement those are you
want me to start over again? Nope. So one our most important
clinical programs, I think, being that we serve 123,000 people throughout Wayne County right now, looking at the gamut of individuals we serve, from infants all the way to our elderly population, I think everything starts at home with our families, looking at our younger population, looking at our youth, working with our schools, I think, is absolutely key that we work with those with our schools and with our young people. I know that over the last several years, we have implemented our School Success Initiative Program, and I think starting at home with our families, making sure that I know that people we often hear of, when you think of mental illness and working with our behavioral health, you think of someone working with anxiety or depression. But we often have young people that are living in food deserts, young people that are dealing with bullying or suicidal ideations. So I think that working with our young people our schools is key, investing in our young people. I know that we've started a lot of programs working with our schools. I think that's got to be one of our most key clinical programs that we've got to hone in on right now, because I think if you started home with the family, everything kind of branches out from there. Outreach. We often hear so much that when we go out on the streets with our whether it be our mobile crisis teams or any of our other departments that are out in the field that individuals say, Oh, I didn't know that you had that program, or I didn't know that exists. A lot of people just don't know that the behavioral health services that are out there are free services that are available to anyone that's out there. It's just lack of knowledge and awareness that these services exist. So I think second, secondly, I think that's got to be key, the implementation. I mean, our provider network is huge, over 350 providers. And we're not in this alone. We have a huge provider network. And I think working together, so many of our social workers boots on the ground, we all do this together. And I think if we all lean up, lean in together, work together, we can definitely get the families that are out there the assistance that's needed so many times we we turn the news or we open the paper, or look at our phones, and we hear of some, some tragedy that's happened, and then we band together. But I think it's about banding together before that tragedy hits, that's when we need to be together and band together the most. It's not when a tragedy happened, it's beforehand. I think I had all your questions, did I miss one?
Let me, let me answer this last one for you, one more time. Okay, okay, what would you do to change or improve how these functions are delivered for our most vulnerable population? I think you answered it. Yeah. Okay, yeah. Thank you. Thank you.
Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Brooke, this kenlock, you know, but Dr Tex said, we all know you. And the next question, the next question is, the Wayne County Metropolitan area has a very diverse population, including a large African American population, the largest Arab American population in the United States, a large Hispanic population, and large populations of various other ethnic groups. The County of Wayne also also has very diverse socio economic populations from the gross points to the inner city of the inner city of Detroit. Please describe your experience in working with various socio economic and ethnic groups and how you would relate that experience to the diverse population of the of the county of Wayne.
I think one thing that's key in our work is connecting with people. I know that one thing that we've started over the last several years is our dei committee, and our dei committee internally at Detroit, Wayne is someone that is made up of a group of individuals, staff that's made up of individuals from all of our different departments, and works in tandem with the rest of our provider network to ensure that we have community inclusion. I think it's key, whether you're talking about our constituents voice Committee, which is a group of individuals, members that we serve that was started to over 10 years ago. And I think that when you work with a vulnerable population, community, inclusion is something that is key, because oftentimes individuals with behavioral health challenges often feel shunned by society, and that is something that we as a community mental health organization have to work as their advocates to help them overcome. We have to be their voice and help them overcome those obstacles. We work with individuals all the time where you're talking whether you're talking about refugees coming in, working with our provider network, whether you're talking about in a lot of our Muslim communities, whether you're talking about our Bengali populations. I've worked with a lot of our providers, whether that be in Hamtramck or in Dearborn. When you do have providers who have staff who are multilingual, because a lot of the members have those language barriers, and you have to come overcome a lot of the challenges that come with explaining a lot of this, the cultural stigma that may come across when you're talking about Someone that is dealing with suicidal ideations or having, whether that be dealing with opioids in the family or anything like that, just having those difficult conversations, and I know that's something that we've had to help a lot of the providers work with in their various communities. Internally, we've worked with a lot of our staff, whether that be having brochures in different languages, just to make sure that we can have those available in the community, so that we can have multilingual brochures available, so that we can assist in letting every population know the service that We offer at Detroit Wayne so that can assist with a lot of people knowing about the programs and services supports that we offer Detroit.
Thank you.
Good afternoon. Brooke, black club senior Ruth, our fourth question. It says, What are the top three challenges you anticipate in the first 90 days, if you are selected for this position?
Top three challenges? Well, I think challenge number one, which is a challenge that we always face going into the winter months. Is going to be the weather. Looking at our unsheltered population is something that we always face, obviously, here in Michigan, but it is something that I know that. Is our mobile crisis team and a lot of our outreach teams are gearing up for so it also is an opportunity for us to be prepared. I know in years past, we have our sleeping bag coats, things that we can do, but that opportunity also presents a good way for us to let people know about the services that we have through our crisis services, pretty soon we're going to have CCB, ccbhcs and direct care services kicking off. So with challenges come a lot of opportunity. So that is something that it's a challenge, but it's, again, it's a good opportunity. Another challenge, you know, we in the middle of construction and renovation right now, so we're trying to get some deadlines going on. So that is a challenge. And then the third challenge, I would say, would be staffing. You know, we are in a statewide there's a lot of staffing shortages right now, just but one thing I know that we are doing internally, we're kind of, we're working with a lot of our universities, whether that be Open University, Wayne, State University, University of Toledo. So there's a lot of things that we're doing, thinking outside of the box, to ensure that we can keep, keep local talent here, invest in our local talent, just to make sure that we can kind of hone in and and keep and nurture our local talent here in the metro area. So again, we got challenges, but hopefully a lot of good opportunities coming out of that as
well. Thank you. Thank you.
All right, so Brooke, we know you. We've been working with you over the years and and now you're applying for this position. Give us some insight as to why you want to change your roles and go from doing what you're doing on a day to day basis what you clearly have a passion for. But give us some insight into why you're seeking this position.
You know, I knew this was going to come. You know, I've been around you guys all know me, and I've been here 12 years. I am invested in the work that we do. I i care about the work. I care about the people I think I have a relationship with, every employee, every provider, every member that we serve. And you know, I am always a champion for Detroit Wayne. I'm an advocate for the people that we serve, and I want to do right by you. I think that's as simple as I can say it. I want, I want our system to succeed. We have started a lot of amazing things, and I want to see it through.
Okay, that's straightforward answer. So thank you. Thank you. All right, committee members, do you have any additional questions or follow up questions for for Brooke, All right, seeing no hands. Thank you very much Brooke, taking the time to come and sit with us so we you will be hearing more from Jody about any next steps. And have a great weekend.
Thank you so much.
Hey, and Jodi, I think we're done. You're going to stick with us as we continue on with our discussion.
If you like for me too, I
can, yeah, I
would like for you to, um, bro. I mean, excuse me, Trent let us know when all of these breakout rooms are are empty. When everyone is gone, I want to start the discussion until, until everyone is gone. Say that again. Do you want to show it? But I was going to go right into it. But if you want a short break, we can do that. We do have about 10, almost 12 minutes before four o'clock. If you want to, if you want a break, we can do that. What's the, what's the pleasure of the Committee for break? Okay, all right, we'll take a 10 minute break then, and we'll come back together at four o'clock, 349, Mike
recording stopped you.
A recording in progress.
We can search. There we go, staying on. All right, so we are reconvening. So here's what we're going to do, ladies and gentlemen, we're going to go around, and I'm going to ask each of the committee members to let me know who are their top candidates, from who they are recommending that we take to the next step, from the on their notes and from their conversation and their thoughts, from the hearing, from The from the candidates, the six candidates, if we have commonalities and we that we all agree on, then that will be one person that we will take to the next step, and then we can talk about the second person. We're not ranking them, but we're just saying these are the two that we think are the top two out of the six. And then we will make a recommendation to take it to the next step. After we agree upon those two, will need a motion in place to confirm that these are the two that we are recommending as a committee to go forward, and then we'll talk about the next step in terms of the dates for the interview. So that's where we are. So let me start with you. Miss Ruth, if I may.
Thank you, Madam Chair,
it was tough.
I have three candidates that I really particularly like, no particular order, but
I need to interrupt you for a moment. MS, Ruth, we do have a motion that from our previous committee meeting that was approved unanimously by this group, that we would narrow down to two. So I know it's hard, but you can only, I only want you to speak to two names. Okay, I wasn't going to reveal
my names. Okay, I had four.
Okay, to everybody. So two. So
my final two by a slim margin without any order, Mr. Michael Hunter, as well as Mr. James White, okay,
and okay. How about you? Commissioner,
yes. Madam Chair, I would, I would, I would, I would suggest that Mr. Michael Hunter and Mr. James White would be moved. Would move forward those two things I would suggest, okay, all
right, interesting. All right, Mr. Glenn,
yes. Madam Chair, was kind of hard decision for me as well, but my choice was Mr. James White and Mr. Michael Hunter, okay,
Mr. Parker, well,
it was a difficult decision. I think many people interviewed very well. I think we could be well served with any of them. But my choice would be James White and Michael Hunter.
All right, okay, well, the top two like you. I had three. This was really hard, because these folks were really good. We had some really good candidates. I think we all agree on Mr. James White and I felt that Mr. James White can knows how to manage a large organization. Those Those skills are transferable. My second person was a choice between Hunter and Ward really, really tight. I'll go with Michael Hunter. That will just make it very, very easy for us.
Madam Chair,
yes. Madam Chair, motion, just a second. Yes. We're having a technical difficulty the meetings. We're going to lose the meeting, so I need you to just pause for one second, switch the system over. All right, we'll do it real quick. I.
and floor, Uh huh. However, that would have to be an open meeting, if I'm correct. Yeah, I'm not sure. Yeah, logistically, yeah, logistically, yeah, logistically, and technology that made that may present an issue for us to do it the same day as a board meeting. So, all right, so the 15th does not work for you. Mr. Glenn, so we're looking at the following week. Which is, which is, what was my calendar? Madam Chair, if I may. Yes, you may that Monday and Tuesday, October 21 and 22nd is the CMHA M fall conference. Oh, yeah, you won't be here. Oh, it's just really getting complicated. Mr. Glenn, if I can arrange it to come back early on Sunday so I can meet on Monday. Could you do Monday the 14th? I could do Monday to 14? Okay, I'll see if I can change my flight. My flight comes back, so does can we tentatively set the 14th, and I'll get on it right away to see if I can change my flight to be back on Sunday night instead of Monday. Thank you. Does the 14th work for everyone? Is good for me. It works for you All right, so right now, put it down tentatively the 14th that we will have schedule for the stakeholder interviews, the staff interviews, and then our committee, final interview of these two candidates. Will do it all in one day. We'll have the first two groups meet in the morning. It will be in the afternoon, and we'll have their feedback to inform us as we make a record, as we decide and make a recommendation for for for the final candidate to go to the full board. Mr. Conley,
I'm so sorry. Yes, Madam Chair,
I'm sorry. Before you speak, Mister. Mister Parker, what was that? 14? Not yet. Not yet. It will be in the afternoon, if we can come, if we can, if you would allow me tonight and tomorrow to be able to see if I can change my flight, which I will do that, and then we can go from there. Okay, all right, Mr. Connelly, does that work for you? We're talking about the 14th having those interviews in the morning and then the Canada interviews in the afternoon. Yes, it does, okay. So we'll have all that. You we may have a recommendation for the meeting on the 16th, and we may not need a special board meeting. So all right, so we're going to shoot for the 14th to do that. Miss Black, is that your hands up? Yeah, it is. Madam Chair. So with the executive committee meeting 1230 to 230 are we looking at moving that? No, we're going to cancel that executive committee meeting. Oh, oh, is there something that we need to do on the executive committee meeting? We don't have to cancel it because we don't have to be at the stakeholder meeting and the and the staff meeting. So we probably still could do it and then do interviews after that. Let us work on the schedule, Miss, Miss Blackshear, you and I work on that if we need to move it up a little bit, but make it all fit in that same day. Okay, understanding also, the committee is just myself and Miss Ruth are on the executive committee, on on this, yeah, the executive committee before the full board meeting, that's. You
have an opportunity to executive Yeah.
Executive Committee meeting, yeah. Okay, that works for me. Are you having a yeah, that works for me. Does that work for Miss blackshire, Yes, Madam Chair, we just have to check with the remainder of the executive committee. I think there's three outstanding members. Okay, why don't you go ahead and check with that, check on that, see if we can do that. Thank you, Mister. That was a real good suggestion, and then we that way we'd have the whole day on the 14th to take care of the business related to the search committee and the interviews. All right, Mr. Connelly, I need to hear from you any thoughts that you have. I know you and I are going to put together a recommend that panel for the staff, and we talked about a diagonal slice all the lot of different different job descriptions, not just the leadership team and also for this community stakeholders. Do you have any comments on Mr. Connelly? No
comments or concerns at this time, Madam Chair, I will work on developing a cross section of staff via review.
Okay, alright, good. Mister Parker, yes,
just be clear. When we interview the two candidates, we're not going to have set questions. We just yeah,
we will. So Mister Connelly and I will try to do set questions. I'm sorry say that again.
I don't know. We need set questions at that point. Rather than just we need to ask them questions. Yeah, remember you said you spoke whatever we think,
hit their questions ahead of time, and y'all would go through them. Remember,
yeah, but, but only, only, only mister Parker, we only got one question, if I remember correctly, that was submitted ahead. Do you all have some questions that you want to submit? No, I'm
talking about first the stakeholders that they will have an opportunity to admit their question, yeah, I agree
with Oh yeah. But I think for our interview, those who candidates we should have some freedom to right, explore more whatever we think they want to do
questions, but we have more of an opportunity to ask our own question. I think we should,
and we suggest that we we don't have the moments each of each of us have a couple of questions that we can ask that, you know that, like you said, probe a little deeper. Okay, yeah, we set a number for two, and then if you have another one follow up, or something like that. So let's so
I would hope that interview at least be set for 45 minutes or so we can really have some dialog. Well,
absolutely for it, absolutely. Well. I just want to make sure I'm clear. Let me we're mixing a few things. So so for the stakeholder and for the staff, they can submit their questions to Mr. Conley, and we'll have those shared with the candidates so that they will be prepared to answer. Is that what I'm hearing for those two good okay? For those two groups, Mr. Conley, you okay with that. Yes, I am okay. So that's those two groups when it comes to the search committee now interviewing the two candidates will have feedback from that group, from those two groups, but also are you're suggesting, as I hear you, commissioner, that each of the committee members have two questions that we can ask the candidates and have a have a fuller discussion. We'll schedule an hour because they may have questions for us also. So we'll schedule an hour for each one of those two interviews and hours. Okay, my only concern about us having our own questions is that I think, in all fairness, we want us to ask the same question. Yes, that's you know, as long as we're clear that
we know the two people, I don't know. We have to standardize our question we're now in based on their experiences that they had at their position, particularly, you know, it's gonna be more directed towards them, yeah, than a general question. That's why I think that just having some dialog with them to see how they think and how they operate, well, maybe different from one candidate to other. Well, without
without a certain this is just my view, Mr. Conley, I'd like you to speak to what is typically the standard for these kinds of things, what usually happens. But unless we have some questions being the same, then what basis do we have for comparison to make our final recommendation? Okay,
so they should be there should be a base questions, but we should have the discretion. You should have some, start some, some same questions, and then general questions, and then each committee can come up with two questions of our own. Because, like he's saying, we're now making a determination whether or not that person should be appointed into the position. I
totally agree. I don't have any, but I was just just concerned about how, what is our going to be our basis for you're
going to put out those five standard questions, and then each each member will come up with at least two questions if, if they want to ask those questions. Yeah, I think that's fair. Mister
Connolly, can you speak to what is typically the recommended protocol, the standard for
best practice to have Madam Chair, best practice to have questions that are consistent, that will be asked of both candidates. Certainly, because this is the board's position, they certainly have rain to ask probing questions and additional questions to gather additional information. And but I think the primary or the basis of the interview should be questions asked consistently between both candidates.
Okay, so you two will come up with those five questions, like y'all did some great questions today. Y'all can come up with, yes, can you do that?
Yes, I can. Oh, yes,
we can. We can. Yeah, yes, we
can. Oh, that's funny. Madam Chair, for clarity, you and you. You and Mr. Connolly will come up with five questions, and each of probing will consider call those probing questions two additional probing questions may come from each of the committee members. Madam Chair, yeah,
all right, each of the committee members, all right, thank you. All right. And Mr. Conley, you, I'm sorry, yeah, you can, yeah, you should be able to do that. Yeah, just have to. We just have to
be that stringent. No, I'm saying we can. You can do, you know, when we not be stingy, it's just something a framework, yes, you got this is serious, right? Yes,
I agree. We just have to watch our time. We want to limit
our but we go, of course it,
yeah, we'll just have to watch what? Yeah, you can follow up. Okay? We'll just
move some, something very different. Then they're gonna answer, and they're like, wait, we gotta follow up.
Okay, well, we're we're just going to have to make sure we're mindful of our time, you know, and their time, and give them an opportunity to ask questions, because they may ask questions of us. So that's also part of it, all right, so Mr. Connelly, you and I got some work to do. You take your vacation, and then we'll be talking while I'm on vacation with my family, but we'll be talking to get all that's clarified. And in terms of getting the groups, the two groups, the stakeholder groups, the staff and the others, they will be able to submit questions. You let them determine the four to five questions that they will submit that they can, that we can share with the candidates beforehand, so they'll be prepared to answer. So that's what we've agreed to. All right, so we're looking for the 14th as being the excuse the year the 14th, and I will confirm that date with Lillian, and she'll get something out to all of you, and we'll work with Mr. Connelly to talk about the blocks of times and how we'll do the schedule. All right, Mr. Glenn, is your hand up? Oh, okay. All right. Okay. Anything else we missed for today? I think you guys have put in a really a full day's work. I think we got a lot accomplished. Is there anything we missed? Is there anything else that we need to talk about today? Miss Ruth, I'll start with you. Anything else to add? No, I think we're all set. Okay, Mr. I mean Commissioner, anything you want to add or stay or oh, this was good. Okay? Mr. Oakland, no, we're good. Thank you. Mr. Parker, okay, Mr. Conley, I'm sorry, miss, I didn't hear you.
You have to do public comment. Yes,
we do. I'm going to get all right, Mr. Mr. Conley, is there anything else we missed? Anything else you want to add that we need to discuss? No,
Madam Chair,
not at this time. All right, then, all right. Trent do we have people online that we need to do the public comment? Good
afternoon, Madam Chair. We have lots of folks joining us today. Okay, so we invite them at this time to make public comment by raising their hand,
and I will ask someone to help me by reading this statement. Do you do that for me? Oh, Mr. Glenn said he'll do it for me. Thank you.
If we have somebody, raise your hand, let's read
the statement, and then let's see what would go from there. Okay, please. Good welfare.
Public comment. Members of the public are welcome to address the board during this time, for no more than two minutes, the Board Liaison will notify the chair the time limit has been met. Individuals are encouraged to identify themselves and fill out the comment card to lead with the Board Liaison. However, those individuals that do not want to identify themselves may still address the Board issues raised during good and welfare public comment that are of the concern of 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, that is HIPAA related or of a confidential nature, will not be posted, but rather responded to on an individual basis, public comment. All
right, thank you. Trent, you may now ask the question to see if there's anyone who wishes to speak.
Okay, so those of you who wish to make public comment, please raise your hand, Madam Chair, we do have one written submission that I'd like to get to before, okay, yes, all right. And this other comment is received from Felicia Clark, formerly of Southwest Solutions, and her comment is, what do you foresee as the biggest enhancements to the community mental health ecosystem to ensure that enrolled clients are receiving the services they need, ie individualized therapy, psychiatric support and. Group activities, keeping in mind that there are staff shortages that affect service implementation.
That's a great question, and I think that's one that we can forward to Mr. Connelly, that we will share as part of the community stakeholder questions. I don't know if she's on the line or not, but we will that is a good question, and we I think that's a venue whereby it can be answered. It's not one for us to answer. Thank you. Go ahead now see if there's anyone else who wishes to speak.
Madam Chair, no one raised their hand to make public comment.
All right. No one else raise your hand for public comment. All right. Last call. Board committee members. Anything you wish to say? And also miss Blackshear, I'm going to ask you, did we miss anything? Is there anything you wish to say at this time? Madam Chair, no, and I'm still waiting for responses from the remaining three executive about moving committee. Okay, all right, here, yes. For German support,
it's been moved and supported. All in favor, any opposed, any abstention. Thank you committee. Thank you. Thank you. Angela,
