Former director will return as interim at Ottawa County Community Mental Health

OTTAWA COUNTY — A familiar face is returning as interim leader of Community Mental Health of Ottawa County following the retirement of Lynne Doyle.

The executive board of CMHOC announced former executive director Michael Brashears will return as interim. Brashears led CMHOC from 2008 to 2013.

Doyle notified the CMHOC Board of Directors in April she'll retire May 20 following an extended medical leave. Brashears will take over May 21.

During his time with the county, Brashears oversaw a number of developments at 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 CMH services.

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

More: CMH Director Lynne Doyle is latest Ottawa County admin to step down

Doyle was appointed CMHOC executive director in 2013 following Brashear’s departure. Doyle 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.

According to CMH Board policies, an interim director needed to be appointed by May 27. An executive transition committee needs to be established by June 10. That committee will establish a time frame and plan for recruiting and selecting a new executive director.

Michigan Mental Health Code states the board must "appoint an executive director of the community mental health services program who meets the standards of training and experience established by the department."

Those qualifications, per the Michigan's Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, include:

• A physician, psychologist, social worker, registered nurse, or other human services professional who has at least a master's degree, three years of professional experience in his or her field of training, and one year of experience in the administrative supervision of mental health programs.

• A person who possesses at least a master's degree in a field of management relevant to the administration of a county community mental health program with three years of professional experience in management and one year of experience in the management of human services programs. The areas of community mental health administration, hospital administration, public administration, institution management, business administration, or public health are deemed to be relevant fields of management.

If a candidate does not meet the minimum education and experience qualifications and the board requests review, the candidate could be deemed qualified if he or she is found to "have substantially met the education and experience requirements of this rule."

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The Ottawa County Board has the power to reject the initial appointment of the next director by a two-thirds vote within 15 calendar days of the appointment, according to state statute.

Doyle is the latest in a string of county officials to announce their retirement. They include the county sheriff, undersheriff, prosecutor and treasurer. The county board also fired the county administrator, John Gibbs, in February.

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

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Former director will return as interim at Ottawa County Community Mental Health