Split Commissioners’ Vote Removes Two from Mental Health Board
The 10-member Geauga County Board of Mental Health and Recovery Services is down three members following a split vote by the county commissioners Sept. 27.
In action not on the meeting agenda, Walter “Skip” Claypool said a letter informing board vice chairman Al Cisan and member Nicole Randazzo of their removal is ready to be sent.
He and commissioner Ralph Spidalieri voted in favor of the resolution to remove the two and commissioner Blake Rear voted against it.
Darlene Violetta recently resigned from the board, Claypool said.
The letter informing Cisan and Randazzo of their removal is not available to the media until the county prosecutor reviews it, Claypool said. When asked why the two members were removed, he briefly quoted the Ohio Revised Code that gives the commissioners the authority to do so, but he gave no specific reasons.
Rear said the resolution, created in session at the end of the weekly meeting, took him by surprise.
There have been discussions in executive session about the possibility of removing Cisan and Randazzo, he said, but not in the last month.
“I didn’t know this was coming up until this morning when the motion was read from the floor,” he said.
In July 2015, Rear voted against appointing three new members to the GCBMHRS. After the meeting Tuesday, he said he was being consistent in voting against removing two members.
“I felt much of it was unnecessary,” he said. “If there’s a problem, it will correct itself when their terms are up.”
If Cisan or Randazzo contest their removal in court, the commissioners could end up paying legal fees to defend their action, Rear said.
The list of members for 2017 on the department’s website does not include Cisan, who has been vice chairman for 2016, but does include chairwoman Alberta Chokshi, Randazzo, Dr. Daniel Schweid, Darlene Violetta, Suzanne Breedlove, Che Scott, Jeffrey Kline, David Welty, Jaina Gandolfi and Lisa Cavasinnni.
Claypool said he has been proactive in reaching out to residents he knows who are interested in serving on the board.
Attorneys have reviewed the letter, he said, adding their removal is not a legal action, but an administrative action.
“I’d just like to move this ball forward,” Claypool said.
Jim Adams, executive director of GCBMHRS, said Tuesday he had not seen the letter dismissing Cisan and Randazzo, but both have represented the county “tremendously,” and their contributions will be missed.
“I am disappointed they are removing Al, who has a family member with mental health problems,” Adams said, adding Cisan has valuable, first-hand experience on how mental health issues can affect families.
Randazzo works in the court system in Lake County with insight the board has found useful, he said.
“She has a good handle on how an individual with mental health or addiction issues can be reintegrated into a community,” Adams said.
With Geauga County’s growing opiate abuse problems, that background has been key to the board’s activities, he said.
Violetta’s decision to resign from the board is related to her own family issues, Adams said.
