The Sangamon County Mental Health Board, still in its infancy, is seeking an executive director and lawyer to help guide the new organization.
The board is responsible for funding mental health services in the county through a 0.5% sales tax levy approved by voters in March, which the county estimates will bring in roughly $14.7 million in its first year.
The group’s third meeting, held July 22 in the Sangamon County Complex, had around two dozen people in attendance.
Board chair Steve Nardulli said while the process can be somewhat fluid, he wants to finalize the executive director position by the end of September. Whoever is hired will be tasked with organizing the board’s priorities and long-term funding plans. The position has a wide pay range of $80,000 to $150,000, “commensurate with education and experience,” according to the job description. Interested applicants need to apply by Aug. 7 at 5 p.m.
“We really want a chief executive officer who knows our community, who can set up an organization from scratch,” said Janice Gambach, former CEO of Memorial Behavioral Health and one of the inaugural board members.
Early in the meeting, Nardulli repeated a common refrain about how the nearly $15 million the board will have at its disposal annually is simply not enough money to address every need.
“There is not going to be enough money available for us to do everything that is really needed within this community. It’s going to be incumbent upon this board to identify those areas in which the need is greatest,” he said. “We plan to provide training to any interested organization on how to apply for, and administer, grants.
“Some of the projects we will support will be through established providers, and some of our support will be provided to small organizations that are providing grassroots services,” Nardulli said.
He also informed the board that he intends “to begin meeting with various service providers; most of my meetings have been with government officials to this point in time,” including Mayor Misty Buscher and Sangamon County State’s Attorney John Milhiser.
Austin Randolph, president of the NAACP Springfield Branch, told the board to avoid politics when weighing what to fund.
“I hope and pray that we keep an open mind, that we don’t get locked into contracts, politics and personal issues,” Randolph said during the public comments. “The public has already spoke about meeting in the community at a convenient time, bringing in the churches… Let’s not put personal biases, interests, politics and other factors in the middle of care.”
The county’s inaugural Mental Health Board also includes: Jennifer Douglas, re-entry coordinator for the Illinois Department of Corrections; Michael Gaines, corrections coordinator for the Illinois Department of Public Health; William Moredock, president of Sacred Heart-Griffin High School; David Racine, former executive director of the Center for State Policy and Leadership at University of Illinois Springfield; Margaret Seymour, a psychiatric clinician; Leigh Steiner, former CEO of then-Andrew McFarland Mental Health Center; and Brian Wojcicki, a lobbyist and lawyer.
Winnebago County
The Sangamon County Mental Health Commission recommended a mental health board adopt a strategy of planning three years ahead in addition to current fiscal year budgeting.
Winnebago, where Rockford is located, entered its final year of a three-year, almost $60 million plan to fund more than three dozen social service programs that focus on mental health treatment, case management, crisis response, housing and more. At least $23.25 million of that $60 million is allocated for county government agencies – nearly 40% of the total budget. Like Sangamon County, its mental health board is also funded through a sales tax.
More than $6 million is allocated to offices under the direction of elected officials, mostly the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office for a Behavioral Health Program available to anyone in jail that offers mental health and medication-assisted therapy services. The Winnebago County Community Mental Health Board also allocated $368,000 in its current funding cycle for a dedicated mental health assistant state’s attorney who “can dismiss criminal charges during the first court appearance and then serve as a conduit to ensure that the individual receives the court-appointed behavioral health and supportive services necessary to lead to positive outcomes.”
But Winnebago has nearly 300,000 residents compared to Sangamon’s fewer than 200,000, meaning the northern county’s mental health board receives far more funding from the increased number of sales tax receipts.
The Sangamon County Mental Health Board meets again at 3 p.m. Aug. 26 in room 223 of the Sangamon County Complex at 200 S. Ninth Street.
