In November, voters in Defiance, Fulton, Henry and Williams counties will be asked to do what they have done every five years since 1982 – extend a seven-tenths mill levy for the Four County ADAMhs Board.
The board voted to place the five year renewal levy on the November 7 ballot at its monthly meeting on Thursday, June 8.
According to the Defiance County auditor, the levy would raise just over $2.5 million a year – about one-third of the board’s total budget.
The ADAMhs Board funds a variety of behavioral health services, including those for mental health, substance use disorders, and family violence.
Board CEO Rob Giesige announced that he will be retiring at the end of the year after about 31 years of government employment.
He has been CEO of the ADAMhs Board since 2019 and before that served nine and a half years as the board’s chief financial officer.
A graduate of Bowling Green State University, Giesige also has worked as a state auditor and served as the chief financial officer for the Defiance Public Library System and Paulding Exempted Village Schools.
The Ohio Association of County Behavioral Health Authorities will assist the board during its search for a new CEO. However, the CEO job description will be posted on the Four County ADAMhs Board website (https://fourcountyadamhs.com) by July 1.
The board approved several contracts for the fiscal year starting July 1, including:
-$7,000 for NAMI Four County to support awareness and public education programming
-$50,000 to support the Williams and Henry County juvenile courts’ special docket initiative that allows the judges flexibility to replace detention/incarceration with treatment interventions for juvenile offenders.
-$35,000 for both the Fulton and Williams County drug courts. Both drug courts have been certified by the Ohio Supreme Court to allow the judges to offer qualifying offenders treatment services and programs instead of incarceration.
-$125,000 for the Mercy Health System to provide adult inpatient psychiatric services.
-$250,000 for the University of Toledo Medical College to provide children and adolescents with inpatient psychiatric treatment.
-$150,000 for Promedica to provide inpatient psychiatric services for adult, child and adolescent patients.
-$6,000 for Ascent Innovations to continue to collect data on opioid use and outcomes from area hospitals, law enforcement and statewide programs. Once the data collection is complete, it will be used to identify service gaps in the area’s existing opioid prevention and treatment programs.
-$50,000 for the Guardian Service Board. Earlier this year, the board appointed Jay Budde as its liaison to the Guardian Service board that had been created to recruit, train and support persons interested in serving as legal guardians for others.
-$225,000 in state funding for the Addiction Treatment Program for persons diagnosed with opiate or other substance use disorders. This amount includes approximately $140,000 in unspent funding that is being carried over from the current fiscal year.
-$223,355 for the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio to administer the criminal justice behavioral linkage grant that was awarded to the ADAMhs Board by the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. The grant is used to provide CCNO opiate addicted inmates with psychoeducation about treatment prior to their release.
The board also approved an office budget totaling $759,100 for the new fiscal year.
During his report to the board, Giesige reported that work continues on two building projects that the board has supported.
Basic repairs have been completed for the women’s recovery housing project that Recovery Services of Northwest Ohio will operate on Route 108 south of Wauseon. Renovations to convert what had once been a veterinary office into recovery housing will begin soon.
And surveying property purchased by New Home Development County on the east side of Defiance to build a supportive housing unit for men and women is nearing completion.
He added that the agreement with Triangular Processing to provide clients served by ADAMhs-funded agencies is now operational.
Triangular Processing has contracts with the Henry County Transportation Network and K & P Medical Transport to serve clients who need transportation to medical appointments or to handle basic needs such as grocery shopping.
The board elected officers for the 2023/24 fiscal year. John Nye of Liberty Center was elected chairperson and Stephen Seagraves of Delta was elected vice-chairperson.