Committee set to recommend Brashears as full-time CMH director

OTTAWA COUNTY — A five-member subgroup of the Community Mental Health of Ottawa County Board of Directors has settled on a recommendation for the organization's next leader.

CMHOC’s Executive Transition Committee met Monday, July 1, to discuss the search for a permanent executive director. CMHOC is looking to replace Lynne Doyle, who officially retired in May after an extended medical leave.

After a discussion, the committee settled on providing a recommendation to hire Dr. Michael Brashears, who previously served as executive director from 2008-2013 and is currently interim executive director.

No formal vote was taken, but no committee members expressed opposition when Chair Gretchen Cosby, a county commissioner, stated the planned recommendation.

The committee was established during the full CMH Board of Directors meeting on June 3. It consists of Cosby, Thomas Bird, Donna Bunce, David Parnin and Beth VanHoven.

The committee will provide the recommendation to the full CMH Board on Friday, July 26. Cosby, who also chairs the CMH Board, said they'll put an item on the agenda at that meeting for the full board to have a discussion with Brashears before a vote is taken.

Cosby said Monday that Brashears is currently the only candidate after Anna Bednarek, a CMH employee, withdrew her name from consideration.

Committee members cited Brashears’ familiarity with CMHOC and his continued experience at other organizations as positives for removing the interim tag from his role.

“He’s historically been our executive director and had a very successful tenure while he was here,” Cosby said. “From my perspective, we’re very fortunate to have him step back in. He knows the organization. ... He doesn’t have a year of getting to know, organizationally, what’s going on, what the expectations are.”

Bird said the organization needs a “visionary” at the helm, and he’s seen that with Brashears. He said, under Brashears’ leadership, Ottawa County became the first CMH in the state to provide services to individuals with autism and helped lead efforts to ensure other CMHs could do the same.

“That’s what an executive director should be doing,” Bird said. “It’s one thing to say we have regulations to follow ... but we need somebody else out there challenging the system, saying, ‘Can we do better? How do we go about doing that?’

“He’s one of the few people who have the courage and the passion to engage the system and try to make it better.”

Parnin, for his part, wants to get a read on the current morale of CMH staff and how they feel about Brashears returning to his former role. Cosby indicated a survey is being sent out for general feedback and results may be available prior to the meeting July 26.

Several board members who aren’t on the committee attended the meeting. Not all were supportive.

Prior to discussions, Chris Kleinjans, also a county commissioner, asked the board to slow down and involve the county’s human resources department. He said he’s “had nothing but positive experiences” with Brashears, but added it's important to make sure the search process is thorough.

“If transformational leadership is truly what this committee and the board have indicated they're looking for, we (need to) create the time to see if there are additional candidates out there who are interested and have the skillset for the task,” he said. “My concerns rest on whether we’re absolutely sure we've had the position open and the job description sent out widely enough to ensure we’ve received the best candidate pool.”

Board member Stephen Rockman voiced his support for Brashears.

“He wants to bring us all along to help us serve this community. That’s his primary focus — the community and what he can do for them,” Rockman said.

Subscribe:Receive unlimited digital access to your local news coverage

Brashears oversaw a number of developments in his first stint with CMHOC, including a statewide funding equity initiative, restructuring the organization's residential system to ensure residents with high need weren't excluded due to cost, and developing a community care clinic to provide crisis stabilization to individuals who didn't qualify for services.

Since leaving CMHOC, Brashears has worked as a provider for those with mental illness and intellectual and developmental disabilities. He's also worked with Hope Network, David's House Ministries and Be Better Holland.

Doyle was appointed executive director in 2013 following Brashear's departure. She was previously deputy director of CMHOC and has held several positions with the county over the past three decades.

During her time heading CMH, Doyle helped execute the county's mental health millage, as needs outpaced available state and federal dollars. In March 2016, voters approved the 10-year millage, which generates an estimated $3.2 million annually.

— Contact reporter Mitchell Boatman at mboatman@hollandsentinel.com.