REMARKS BY HARRY L. JONES, SR., MECKLENBURG COUNTY MANAGER
CHANGES IN MECKLENBURG COUNTY AREA MENTAL HEALTH/LME
As I considered the information we gathered during this assessment of Area Mental Health, a
couple of strategic themes have emerged.
First, much like the rest of Mecklenburg County government, Area Mental Health has a very
strong service culture. There are very few instances or areas where service delivery is lacking or
where service performance oversight is deficient. Although we will continue to seek
opportunities to improve service quality, I do not see this as a significant problem that needs to
be addressed as a priority.
On the other hand, our assessment does reveal an urgent need to strengthen and enhance Area
Mental Health’s capabilities and performance in compliance oversight. Given what we have
learned from this assessment, I believe building this compliance culture requires fundamental
reform in Area Mental Health, beginning in two critical areas identified in Mr. Moseley’s
recommendations: leadership; and financial management.
Today, I received and accepted the resignation of Area Mental Health/LME Director Grayce
Crockett, effective January 11, 2011. This makes leadership change the first priority in Area
Mental Health. Interim Director Carlos Hernandez will remain in this position overseeing the
day-to-day operations of LME, with hands-on oversight from General Manager Michelle
Lancaster. In addition, AMH legal counsel Elizabeth Nurkin will serve as interim deputy director
of the LME to place greater emphasis on compliance oversight, particularly in contract
monitoring and management of LME’s vendors.
This combination of leadership provides us the immediate capacity and capability to begin
implementing all of Mr. Moseley’s recommendations, which I fully support. Moving forward
with the full scope of Mr. Moseley’s recommendation will take additional time and most likely
will involve contracting with an outside consulting firm to assist us in making these changes.
We will implement Mr. Moseley’s recommendations before hiring a new LME director. There
are two main reasons for this sequence. First, we need to move quickly and decisively in
making the priority changes to Area Mental Health’s LME. Recruiting and hiring a new LME
director would take 90-120 days, and we cannot and should not delay taking action in the
priority areas. Secondly, one of the main responsibilities of the new LME director will be to
implement the Medicaid Waiver that, sooner or later, will be a significant aspect of
Mecklenburg County’s LME. This responsibility to oversee the Medicaid Waiver function will
require a leader with different knowledge, skills and abilities than those previously held by
mental health/LME directors. For example, we envision the future LME director having a very
strong business management background and skills. We anticipate using the next nine months
to implement Mr. Moseley’s recommendations, during which we will also be in a better
position to develop an appropriate recruiting strategy to find the best candidate for the LME
director position.
In addition to changes in leadership, the other priority is reorganizing the financial management
function within Area Mental Health. Consistent with our policy and our intention to further
combine areas of our consolidated Human Services Agency, I have directed that all financial
management functions within Area Mental Health, DSS, the Health Department and
Community Support Services be merged to create one finance division serving all these areas.
This new finance division will be directed by Gail Murchison, who currently is the County’s
Deputy Finance Director. This will constitute a new position and role for Ms. Murchison as the
Health & Human Services Agency Finance Division Director. Gail has already been serving in
this role part-time, having been assigned oversight of DSS finance last year and more recently
undertaking the financial review of Area Mental Health that was mentioned earlier by Michelle
Lancaster.
Merging these functions will provide greater efficiency through economies of scale and the
ability to standardize processes across these divisions. More importantly, it provides more
direct and consistent oversight of all budgeting, finance, grants management and contracting
functions within these departments. In addition to addressing deficiencies in the LME, it also
allows us to leverage financial management expertise we have in other areas of the
organization as well as strengthening financial management compliance in multiple
departments. In her new role, Ms. Murchison will continue to report to Finance Director Dena
Diorio to maintain a strong connection with and ensure additional oversight by the Finance
Department.
We anticipate this reform of financial management operations will take approximately 90 days
to initiate, with ongoing implementation over subsequent months.
As an additional item, the Board will recall that one of the items on my strategic management
plan is developing and implementing a formal compliance program, which I plan to do by the
end of February. This will provide additional direction for the entire organization, including Ms.
Murchison and other staff in the Health & Human Services Agency Finance Division as they
implement the merger of these functions.