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Shelby mayor proclaims May 2025 Mental Health Month; county deputy director outlines new service website and levy plans
Summary
Mayor Stephen L. Shag presented a proclamation recognizing May 2025 as Mental Health Month in Shelby. Sherry Granham Foner, deputy director for Richland County mental health services, described a new Richland Recovery Network website, service partnerships and plans to seek a levy renewal on the November ballot.
Mayor Stephen L. Shag proclaimed May 2025 as Mental Health Month in Shelby during the city council meeting and presented a proclamation from the Richland County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board.
The proclamation, read at the council meeting, said the county is adopting the national theme “turn awareness into action” and urged local governments, schools, businesses and residents to support mental health and recovery services.
Sherry Granham Foner, identified at the meeting as deputy director of the Richland County mental health and recovery services board, described a newly developed Richland Recovery Network website intended to make local behavioral-health services easier to find. "The first question you will see is, are you in crisis? Yes or no?" Foner said, explaining the site will surface crisis contacts immediately and route non-crisis searches to lists of local providers and contact numbers.
Foner said the network includes contract and affiliate agencies working under the board’s umbrella and named partnerships that have been added, including OhioHealth and Akron Children’s psychiatric services. She said funding for services comes from federal, state and local dollars and that the board is monitoring the status of a roughly $1,200,000 grant. "Our levy is eligible to go on the ballot in November," she said, and she said she planned to consult the county commissioners about seeking renewal.
Council members did not take a formal vote on the proclamation; the mayor presented it and Foner spoke in support of public awareness and the website effort. There was no formal council action on the levy during the meeting.
Why it matters: Council presentations that summarize available behavioral-health services and steps to improve access can shape how residents learn about crisis resources and ongoing care. A levy renewal, if pursued and placed on the ballot, would require voter approval and would affect the board’s local funding.
The presentation concluded with councilmembers thanking Foner and offering to take a group photo. The council did not schedule further action on the item at that meeting.
