By TONI SCOTT - Staff Writer
Posted: 06/26/2009 10:15:11 PM PDT
OROVILLE -- A lack of stability, transparency and leadership plagues Butte County's Department of Behavioral Health, according to the 2008-09 Butte County Grand Jury report released Friday.
The report by the 19-member Grand Jury, states the department suffers from "problems of malcontent" that it attributes in large part to former Director Brad Luz.
Grand jurors visited seven department clinics this past year, questioning 34 employees while researching the department's financial documents.
The Grand Jury found "medical, clinical and line staffs ... were suffering from low morale, mistrust and fear of losing their jobs," claiming the poor feelings stem from "mistrust and lack of leadership under the former administrator."
The report indicates budget decisions were made behind closed doors, without the input of assistant directors and program managers, ultimately leading to income-generating services being cut while administrators received higher salaries.
Because of this, the report states the department was left in "financial turmoil," with interim Director Ed Walker inheriting a need to cut $5 million from its budget when Luz suddenly stepped down from his post in March 2008.
The Grand Jury also scolded the Board of Supervisors for its lack of knowledge of the department's woes.
"The Grand Jury found the Butte County Board of Supervisors to be surprisingly un-informed and un-involved in overseeing and monitoring the Department of Behavioral Health's fiscal affairs, structure of management, and administrative decisions," the report reads.
District 1 Supervisor Bill Connelly disputed the Grand Jury's claims, adding the supervisors worked from information they thought Luz provided in good faith.
"The department heads only gave glowing reports," Connelly said.
Connelly said the supervisors only heard employee concerns after the department was struggling financially. If people do not voice their grievances, it is impossible for the Board of Supervisors to remedy a situation, he said.
"If they want to pass the blame on me, then fine, I'm to blame," Connelly said. "But you also have to blame the people that didn't come forward to complain when they knew there were problems. We can't do anything but rely on reports given to us."
The Grand Jury report also calls for the Board of Supervisors to become "more involved with the fiscal affairs and administrative structure of BCDBH," a suggestion Connelly disagrees with.
"We have a $400 million budget and 2,000 employees. We can't run day-to-day operations for every department. If we start running departments we're not doing our jobs correctly," Connelly said.
The report further asks the Board of Supervisors to hire a permanent director, though Connelly said in the current recession, the supervisors have been hit with other financial priorities, including the hiring of a county chief administrative officer.
Connelly did acknowledge the department was experiencing problems under Luz's leadership, but said "dramatic changes" have been made under Walker, who he said was "doing a great job."
The Grand Jury affirmed that claim, stating Walker is "well liked and respected by all levels of department personnel" but stipulated that some issues continue to persist under Walker's leadership.
"The consensus of witness testimony reveals a continuing lack of transparency, fear of retaliation for speaking out, and decision-making that continues to be made by a small group of people."
Walker declined to comment Friday, with department staff adding that he was out of the office and could not immediately address the report findings.
The report calls for increased leadership training, increased transparency, and the hiring of a permanent director and medical director to remedy these problems. It also calls for the creation of two residential treatment facilities, which could save out-of county costs for the department.
http://www.chicoer.com/news/oroville/ci_12702031
No comments:
Post a Comment