News Photo by Kayla Wikaryasz On Thursday, the NeMCMHA board and leadership team met to provide updates on various orders of business.

ALPENA — The Northeast Michigan Community Mental Health Authority (NeMCMHA) Board of Directors met on Thursday to review policies, reports, and to say farewell to a long-standing board member. Main topics of conversation included a new Public Comment investigation policy, statistics of admitted patients, and a gentle reminder by board member Lester Buza, Presque Isle, to “keep going in the right direction.”

Eric Lawson, board chair, began the meeting with a farewell message to long-standing board member, Buza. Buza said that he’s served on the NeMCMHA board for 30 years, and after the passing of his wife, he has decided to step away from his duties as a board member.

He reminisced on his time serving on the NeMCMHA board and used the opportunity to reflect on changes he’s noticed in the community and how an influx of people arriving in the community will affect the board.

“There are more and more coming to our four counties and a lot of people realize, and it’s tough, we’re not ultimately wilderness anymore,” Buza said. “They’ve found us out.”

He added that when driving to town one day, he noticed “two or three guys laying beside one of the buildings,” another few standing beside the road, and “two more guys behind one of the vacant buildings.”

“So we got a lot of problems that are going to have to be taken care of,” Buza added.

Executive Director, Nena Sork, thanked Buza for his time on the board and noted his commitment to NeMCMHA.

“Your leadership over 30 years has created this agency,” Sork said.

Halfway through the meeting Lawson brought up a conversation surrounding public comment and how the board should address questions that need further investigation.

“We don’t really respond to public comment,” Lawson said. “That’s pretty good practice because it prevents your meeting from being hijacked.”

However, Lawson recognized the need to address public comments to where board members can direct the chair to investigate further and report back.

Board member Jennifer Graham, Alpena County, clarified the nuances of public comment further.

“If we do a hypothetical, somebody brings something up, I hear it and I’m like, ‘That’s a concern of mine. I want to know more information about that,’ it’s outside my scope as a board member to inquire about that independently,” Graham said. “That would be a violation of my role.”

Lawson told Graham that summarization was correct, and Sork added that the new policy would allow the board to speak with one voice.

Erin Fletcher, clinical director, presented data of children receiving NeMCMHA services.

“To date, we have 345 children under the age of 18 that are open to services,” Fletcher said. “That could be a variety of services.”

Fletcher responded to Terry Small, Alcona County, that a majority of children that NeMCMHA serves are teenagers.

Sork added that one case could represent multiple children, such as in a family therapy type of situation. However, if there are foster children receiving care under the same household, they are counted individually.

“If a foster home has, say, four children, there might be two of which need our level of service,” Fletcher explained. “And so we might open two of those children to services because with foster care at any time these kiddos could come and go … could be moved to different places.”

IN OTHER BUSINESS

Sork updated the board on NeMCMHA’s intent to file a lawsuit against the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) if they follow through prohibiting NeMCMHA from bidding on services.

There is a current, separate litigation happening in regards to MDHHS’s restructuring. Sork stated that if the litigation falls through, NeMCMHA is prepared to file a lawsuit themselves.

“The ducks have been arrayed,” Lawson added.

Kayla Wikaryasz can be reached at 989-358-5688 or kwikaryasz@TheAlpenaNews.com.