Mental Health Board Director Denies Alleged Salary Increase

June 16, 2015

Geauga County Commissioners heard June 16 that Jim Adams, executive director of the Geauga County Board of Mental Health and Recovery Services, may receive a substantial raise and a five-year contract.

Adams, however, denied these allegations two hours later.

Jeff Kline, a mental health board member, told commissioners he has not seen the contract, but understands Adams, who receives more than $111,000 per year, will receive a salary increase of more than 10 percent and a five-year contract.

The package also includes a condition that the board, if it decides to fire Adams, must give him 12 months notice and severance pay, Kline said.

Kline said he anticipated the contract would be passed by the board on June 17 at its regular meeting and he urged a commissioner to attend.

“Somebody has to start coming to these meetings,” he said. “The board is corrupt.”

Responding to a phone call Tuesday afternoon, Adams said he didn’t know where Kline got those figures. The contract the board sent to the county includes no raise for Adams and his traditional three-year contract, he said.

“The salary goes back to what I was making in 2008-2009,” Adams said, adding the budget his department submitted to the county for the next fiscal year includes no salary increases.

The 12-month notice of termination and severance pay protects the county from having to pay him for the remainder of his contract if the department has a sharp drop in federal, state or local funding and his position is changed or eliminated, Adams said.

Kline was appointed to the board by commissioners in May 2014 about the time the mental health board voted to increase Adams’ salary by about $38,000 per year.

The board determines salaries — which are reflected in the annual budget reviewed by the Geauga County Auditor’s Office — and approved rolling raises for Adams in 2013 from roughly $112,000 to nearly $154,000, according to payroll records.

The commissioners have said they and the county auditor have no control over that payroll, since local funds to support the organization come from levies.

The mental health board determines salaries, which are reflected in the annual budget reviewed by the Geauga County budget committee.

However, when the department came to the commissioners last year after the raises had been approved and asked for supplemental appropriations, the commissioners insisted the salary increases be rolled back.

“There’s not another director in this county that makes the dollars and cents that this director makes,” Commissioner Ralph Spidalieri said Tuesday, adding the county has a heroin epidemic and a lot of kids needing help.

“All these dollars could be going to treatment,”he said.

The mental health board has control of its own budget. Commissioners decide if a levy can go on the ballot if more funds are requested.

Commissioner Blake Rear said he would object to raises of more than 3.5 percent per year, similar to what many county employees receive, adding that issue is up to the board.

Adams said his contract is on Wednesday’s mental health board agenda for approval and it has been through the board committees as well as the Geauga County Prosecutor’s Office.

Commissioner Walter “Skip” Claypool said Tuesday afternoon he has read through the contract and concurs with Adam’s statements.

“After seeing the contract, I don’t have a problem with it,” Claypool said, adding the copy he saw did not have a signature from the Geauga County Prosecuting Attorny’s office.