Community advocates urge fresh start, lived experience for executive director; closed session yields no action

Community advocates told the Executive Director Screening Committee of the Commission for Behavioral Health that the commission needs a fresh start and an executive director with lived experience of California’s Mental Health Services Act, while the committee met in closed session to review candidates and reported no action.

At a special virtual meeting, Jay Robinson, chair of the executive director screening committee, opened public comment and then moved the meeting into a closed session titled “review, consider, and recommend candidates for the vacant executive director appointment.” After reconvening publicly, the committee’s report-back said, “No action was taken during the closed session.”

The meeting drew public comment from two advocates. “I would really like to thank the Commission staff for arranging for a session with representatives of the community to weigh in on what is important to us regarding the selection of a new executive director,” said Stacy Hiramoto, with Remco, the Racial and Ethnic Mental Health Disparities Coalition. Hiramoto added that community stakeholders want commissioners to recognize that “trust has been broken with the community. This must be recognized by the commissioners. This must be repaired and it will not happen overnight.”

Laurel Bem Hamada, from Mass Social Services Foundation and Remco, urged the committee to seek a candidate who understands the history of California ballot measures governing behavioral health. “We need a person who understands the story, the history, good and bad, good, bad, and ugly, of the Mental Health Services Act proposition 1, what came before, and now proposition 63,” Bem Hamada said. She said she hoped the committee would find “people who are humble and confident and have experience helping peers and clinicians work well together.”

Both speakers told the committee they wanted an executive director who would restore public trust, engage community stakeholders, support existing staff and avoid repeating practices associated with the former executive director. Hiramoto said, “If you think we are hoping for you to select someone who is very much like the former executive director, you would be wrong.”

The meeting record shows the committee followed Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act procedures for remote participation: staff asked whether anyone in the room was under age 18 and reminded remote participants to remain on camera. Public comment periods were limited to three minutes per speaker, and the chair instructed virtual participants to join a separate closed-session link when the meeting went off the public record; the public was told the session would reconvene at 4:15 p.m.

After the closed session the screening committee reported no formal action. The meeting was then adjourned.