Commissioners Deny Legal Counsel to MHRS Board
You're the reason they need the lawyer. Jim Flaiz They're spending millions of dollars on nonsense. They do good work, but they're screwed up on this. Walter "Skip" Claypool
After hiring their own lawyer to represent them against any possible litigation with the Geauga County Board of Mental Health and Recovery Services, Geauga County?Commissioners voted against allowing the mental health board to do the same.
Geauga County Prosecutor Jim Flaiz had requested the mental health board be allowed to hire a lawyer to represent them in the defense of any claims advanced by the commissioners.
The commissioners’ 2-1 decision came after a lively discussion during their March 17 meeting.
Commissioner Blake Rear voted “Yes, reluctantly” to the request, while commissioners Ralph Spidalieri and Walter “Skip” Claypool voted against it.
“Unless we were actively going to take legal action, we shouldn’t feel obligated to go down that road,” Spidalieri said.
According to Flaiz, the request was a procedural matter under the Ohio Revised Code. He explained that because the board of county commissioners had hired a lawyer to represent it against the mental health board, it placed them at an unfair advantage.
“You’re the reason they need the lawyer,” Flaiz said. “You’re the only the board (under Ohio law) that can hire legal counsel without seeking approval.”
Flaiz said his office would now make the application with Geauga County Common Pleas Court Judge Forrest Burt, who would likely approve the request to hire outside legal counsel.
He said because his office represents the county government and its various boards, he could not represent the mental health board in a legal dispute with the commissioners.
“I have an obligation to keep everyone on a legal playing field,” Flaiz said.
“We’ll force you to do this either way,” Rear said to Flaiz regarding the commissioners’ vote.
“The last time this board got into a dispute with another department, (the sherriff’s office under Red Simmons), it went into the millions of dollars in legal fees,” he added as a cautionary note.
“The only winners in that skirmish were the lawyers,” Flaiz said.
Spidalieri said he was voting on principle.
“We can’t replace money for principles,” Spidalieri said. “Our constituents called us for help, or we wouldn’t have taken action.”
“I’m not sure they (the mental health board) need this,” Claypool added. “This is about our kids and the surveys going to schools. Many of us feel it is detrimental to our kids.”
The Communities That Care youth surveys are given to students in public school districts in Geauga County every three years. The survey results supply a database showing how various issues have changed among students and, consequently, where the board and other organizations should expend their energies and resources, according to GCBMHRS Executive Director Jim Adams.
The GCBMHRS has eight members appointed by the county commissioners and seven by the state. One possible reason for legal action would be the removal by the commissioners of some of the county members, as has been discussed in previous meetings.
Claypool said “millions of dollars” were being spent on the surveys to obtain grant money, which would then create a “downstream cost to build a program based on the survey.”
“The results after the survey are if you hang around with bad kids, you’ll become bad and that peer pressure plays a role,” Claypool continued. “My grandfather could have told you that. They’re spending millions of dollars on nonsense. They do good work, but they’re screwed up on this.”
“The whole thing is problematic,” Rear said. “You can’t pick a fight with someone and not provide counsel.”
