Agenda - 02-19-2013-13 (3) - Laserfiche WebLink

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Office of the County Attorney To: Barry Jacobs, Chair Earl McKee, Vice Chair Mark Dorosin Alice M. Gordon Bernadette Pelissier Renee Price Penny Rich INFORMATION ITEM ORANGE COUNTY P.O. BOX 8181 200 S. CAMERON STREET HILLSBOROUGH, NC 27278 From: John Roberts Date: February 13, 2013 Re: Structure of Mental Health Services in Orange County Q7 Orange County, Person County, and Chatham County formed the Orange Person Chatham ("OPC") Mental Health, Developmental Disability, and Substance Abuse Authority in order to provide mental health services to residents of each county. This Authority was one of many such governmental bodies providing mental health services in North Carolina. In a 2011 effort to link the multiple organizations providing mental health services in North Carolina, and to reduce their numbers, the North Carolina General Assembly passed Session Law 2011 -264 governing the provision of mental health services by, among other things, requiring a minimum resident population in the area served by an organization, the catchment area. OPC's resident population did not meet the minimum requirements to continue as an organization and was forced to seek a partner organization. Representatives of OPC met with representatives of Piedmont Behavioral Health ( "PBH ") and jointly agreed that OPC, and two other organizations, would merge with PBH to form Cardinal Innovations ( "Cardinal "), an area authority organized under North Carolina General Statute §122C with the statutory authority to provide mental health services. In March 2012 the Orange County Board of Commissioners approved the creation of Cardinal. In June 2012 OPC effectively dissolved and Cardinal began providing mental health services in Orange County formerly provided by OPC. The current structure of mental health services in Orange County generally is that structure reflected in Article II of the attached community operations center by -laws. Cardinal is directed by a governing board. As part of the interlocal agreement creating Cardinal, Orange, Person, and Chatham Counties appoint members to a local community oversight board. This community oversight board appoints one of its members to sit on the Cardinal governing board. The community oversight board provides county governments the opportunity to remain involved with and monitor services being provided by Cardinal within designated catchment areas. The catchment area that Orange County is concerned with is Orange County, Person County, and Chatham County. Specific responsibilities of the community oversight board are listed in Article III, Section 1.4 of the attached by -laws. Due to this agreed upon structure and the provisions of Chapter 122C, beyond the appointment of a representative to the community oversight board, the Orange County Board of Commissioners has no direct control over the provision of mental health services in Orange County.