Commissioners meet with mental health expert

The Wyandot County Board of Commissioners met with Executive Director Nancy Cochran, of the Mental Health and Recovery Services Board, on Thursday morning for an update.
“(The board) has to do with drug addiction, alcohol addiction, rehab and that kind of stuff,” Commissioner Joyce Morehart said. “They may work with (Firelands Counseling and Recovery Services), but they’re an entity to themselves. … (Firelands), they do the services. That’s where you would send someone for mental health.”
Commissioner Steve Seitz said Wyandot County’s office is better off than those in some other counties, due to passing the supportive levy.
“A woman from Sandusky County, which hasn’t been able to pass a levy in years, said there’s a waiting list, whereas Wyandot County, there’s not a problem,” he said.
The renewal levy is up again in 2013.
Of the funds, Seitz said “10 percent goes to the board operations director administrator, 10 percent goes to crisis intervention teams, 15 percent goes to local initiatives and 65 percent goes to Firelands.”
Cochran said the board is being hurt like many other local entities because of government budget cuts, notably several of their grants have either been cut or seen a reduction of 25 percent. One allocation had a $400,000 cut, others had more.
“The Office of Health Transformation is portraying in press releases that this is additional money, when in fact it is only $3 million of the $5.8 million reduction, still leaving a $2.8 million deficit from the fiscal year 2013,” Cochran said.
The board also is looking for one member from Wyandot County to be appointed by the county commissioners.

By PATRICK MASSARA
Staff writer

Posted by Daily Chief on June 8, 2012. Filed under Local News,Recent Headlines. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry