While I’m pleased to report that I was successful in resolving the Brown Act mess relative to a confusing proposed administrative merger of Public Health and Behavioral Health (formally Mental Health) under a single Director, this issue needs careful reflection before implementation.
So the Supes’ unanimous decision at their May 21 meeting to do what should have been done in the first place, i.e., discuss and take action in open session where the public will be allowed to participate in the process, is obviously a huge step in the right direction. Presumably, this corrective action will occur at the June 4, 2024 meeting where the issue(s) will be posted on the regular, open session agenda.
Ultimately, the record speaks for itself and I’ll just leave it at that. Mulheren’s revelation and apology at the Supervisors meeting were the right thing for her to do given the circumstances surrounding this thorny matter.
On the substantive side of this issue, recently retired Julie Beardsley, who served in government for over 30 years, and was the Mendocino County Senior Public Health Analyst (acting as the Epidemiologist) for eight years, did an excellent job of summarizing this puzzling proposal:
“The Board of Supervisors is debating once again whether to combine Public Health and Behavioral Health into one department. Having a ‘Health Department’ may make sense in our small community and could save money. But as things stand now, Behavioral Health staff are running Public Health, despite the fact that they have no expertise or knowledge of how a Public Health department should function. Our Mendocino County Public Health does not run hospitals like some larger counties do. Public Health does provide some treatment modalities, for example, treating tuberculosis patients. They run vaccine clinics at times. Public Health Nursing provides home visiting for families at risk for child abuse or neglect. It provides education and information about oral health, tobacco use, and nutrition. The Women’s Infant’s and Children’s (WIC) program and Environmental Health are also a part of Public Health. Public Health also monitors children in foster care and children with special needs.
“The decision to create a ‘Health Department’ is fine and may be appropriate for our county. But to have BHRS overseeing Public Health is not appropriate. BHRS staff are not trained in the science of Public Health modalities or its functions. Trying to force BHRS policies and procedures on Public Health department functioning is not appropriate and is counter-productive to the functioning of the Public Health department. Combining the two departments may be an okay idea, but the tail should not wag the dog. BHRS should be under Public Health, and not the other way around. There may be someone who could manage both departments, but honestly, it is not Jenine Miller and her staff. They lack the training and knowledge necessary to fulfill the core functions of a Public Health department. I urge the Supervisors to look for someone who has the qualifications to oversee both departments, OR to resist the temptation to act suddenly without a real plan.”
Mark Scaramella, of the Anderson Valley Advertiser, explained the messy Public Health-Behavioral Health blow-up this way:
“If you want to understand the turmoil in the County’s Public Health and Behavioral Health departments, you won’t get far listening to comments at Supervisors meetings. On the one hand you have the line employees Union president demanding an investigation into a culture of fear, retaliation and intimidation in Public Health involving whoever may have pressured some employees to sign a hurry-up letter in support of the appointment of Dr. Jenine Miller as Health Director two weeks ago which would have made official an arrangement that has been informally in place since late last year. On the other hand a number of current public health staffers, most of them saying they worked in finance and administration, came to the podium on Tuesday in support of the consolidation of the two departments headed by Dr. Miller. One of them, a youngish woman who spoke so quickly that it was hard to understand what she was saying as she nervously sped through a letter she had written, said that somebody had been ‘falsely accused’ of something and perhaps been a victim of ‘gender discrimination.’ She demanded to know which supervisor ‘leaked’ the letter in support of Dr. Miller signed by over 40 of Dr. Miller’s staffers to ‘Julie Beardsley and the AVA,’ concluding, ‘Who do we turn to when our leaders are constantly attacked?’”
This is just another example of why this county is seemingly in a perpetual mode of governing dysfunction.
I keep saying the answer to this dilemma is right in front of everybody:
Problems just don’t happen, people make them happen.
It’s time for the people making problems happen, to reverse fields and make the problems un-happen.
(Jim Shields is the Mendocino County Observer’s editor and publisher, observer@pacific.net, the long-time district manager of the Laytonville County Water District, and is also chairman of the Laytonville Area Municipal Advisory Council. Listen to his radio program “This and That” every Saturday at noon on KPFN 105.1 FM, also streamed live: http://www.kpfn.org.)
Mark Scaramella Comment that the county is in a state of perpetual dysfunction pretty much sums up the state of things here. The General Services, Sheriff, Auditor, County Clerk and several other department all seem to be doing well. The Supervisors need to hire a real Public Health Officer and get on with their muddling along. Where is Al Beltromi (sp?) when we need him
I find it interesting that those who know nothing about it speak the loudest. What needs to happen is support from the community to encourage the team to develop and expand to the fullest of their abilities.
Everyone in the building is working very hard to offer the best services possible. They all have a deep love for our community and bring a lot of great experience with them.
When you attack them in a fashion such as this it can take away the hope. You become part of the problem and not the solution. If you support the change and ask how you can help to make the change successful then you will be a part of the success.
I would not go to Laytonville and try to tell Mr. Shields how to run the water district. Even though I grew up there and know him very well. I would not go to Social services and speak to how I can fix what they are going through even though we collaborate with them.
Sometimes we need to stay in our own lanes and encourage hope and support for those that are trying so hard to be the best they can and offer the services to those that need it most in these trying times.
Give things a chance before you offer an opinion.
The problem with this hopeful plea, is that you don’t know what you don’t know. So how can you fix the car when you know nothing about auto mechanics? As Dr. Coren stated, it’s like asking the Head of Psychiatry to run the Surgical department. The county needs to hire someone to run the Health department who is trained in Public Health. BHRS staff are not, yet they are overseeing Public Health. I would not be at all surprised to see another exodus of PH staff.
I’m curious when you took singing lessons Julie. You have been singing the same song for far too long. You couldn’t step up so now step back. This is no longer your problem.
Wrong. It is a community problem. This is why the BOS okay’d a Public Health Advisory Board. And as for stepping up, in the almost 8 years I worked for the County I accomplished a lot. As SEIU president and member of the negoiation team I worked to secure COLAs for employees and shorter probationary periods. I led the 2020 Census project. I authored 2 Community Health Needs Assessments and the corresponding Improvement Plans. And now, who is monitoring the ERs now? Who is providing data? Who is doing the annual reporting? Who is making recommendations to the BOS? A functioning Public Health department is vital to the health of our community.
Those are all great things that you are lauding to but that’s SEIU. What about Public Health? I’m not going to start on a list of the things that happened as you “Julie” the employee. Those that have been there longer know some of the real truths. Blowing your own horn is great but hard facts are hard facts. You mentioned something about the “mean’s girl’s club” I was amazed at that, because that was really what you were president of. Like I said the dark cloud is gone so once again thank you.