TO: Board of Supervisors
FROM: Ryan J. Alsop, County Executive Officer
REPORT BY: John Buzolich, Deputy County Executive Officer - Admin
SUBJECT: Consolidate the Behavioral Health Board and amend bylaws
RECOMMENDATION
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Adopt a Resolution to rename the Mental Health Board to become the Behavioral Health Board (BHB), amend bylaws, and adjust membership to consolidate the Advisory Board on Drug and Alcohol Programs (ABAD). (No Fiscal Impact; Discretionary)
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BACKGROUND
On April 23, 1985, the Board established the Napa Advisory Board on Alcohol and Drug by Resolution 85-39. The Mental Health Board was established by Resolution 1993-82 on July 20, 1993.
On July 1, 2023, Alcohol and Drug Services division and Mental Health division were consolidated into a single Behavioral Health division within the Napa County Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA). On July 25, 2023, the Interim CEO presented report 23-1295 discussing the difficulty in filling board positions and providing staff support for the 57 boards, committees, and commissions with 450 members. The CEO recommended that 17 discretionary boards, committees, and commissions, including the ABAD, be retired. Consolidation of the two advisory boards into one was otherwise a stated priority for HHSA to mirror the integration reflected through its two divisions into Behavioral Health. Welfare and Institutions Code section 5604 authorizes the Board of Supervisors to combine two existing boards to serve as a behavioral health board.
In December 2023 and January 2024, the chairs of the MHB, Kristine Haataja, and the ABAD, William Chadwick, worked with County Counsel's Office, the Director of HHSA, the Deputy Director of HHSA-Behavioral Health, and the County Executive Office to develop a plan to consolidate the functions of the two boards into a BHB and to incorporate ABAD members who expressed their desire to continue their service by transferring their membership to the consolidated BHB.
The two boards ...
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