MANSFIELD — A Richland County Mental Health & Recovery Services board member resigned Monday after county commissioners alleged he had improperly financially benefitted from public monies spent by the agency.
Jay Wachs, president of the non-profit group Gravity Ohio, submitted his resignation via email to commissioners, who discussed the issue during an hour-long executive session on Tuesday morning.
“We believe documents clearly show Mr. Wachs was personally and financially benefitting as a member of the Richland County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board,” Commissioner Tony Vero said after the executive session ended.
Commissioners said they have shared their concerns with the “appropriate law enforcement agencies,” likely the Ohio Auditor’s Office.
However, Wachs told Richland Source on Tuesday afternoon he is not compensated by Gravity Ohio and has “never been paid one dime” from his volunteer work with the non-profit organization he helped to found in 2022.
Commissioners appoint members to the 14-member RCMHRS board, all of which are volunteer, unpaid positions. They had appointed Wachs in 2021 to a four-year term.
However, commissioners believe Wachs voted to approve mental health board payments with Gravity Ohio for things such as:
— $1,000 for commercial video production in April for the mental health board’s “Voices of the Future” series.
— $500 for “town hall meeting services” for the board in May.
— $250 for 25 student admission tickets in July for the Ted Yoder hammered dulcimer event staged by Gravity Ohio in September.
— $250 for a mental health information booth at the Rock-N-Ribs event Gravity Ohio staged in Central Park in October.
— $250 donation in 2022 to assist Gravity Ohio in the creation of a “Families Without Families Communal Thanksgiving Event.”
Commissioners also released a document they said showed the mental health agency and its board proposing an agreement with mental health providers to share costs in developing public relations plans that could include Wachs through JW Consulting.
“If an agency is interested in working with JW Consulting or another firm for the purpose of developing a public relations plan to increase awareness of services, address workforce shortages or develop greater exposure in the community. The Board will agree to pay 50% of a 1-year contract for up to 10 hours per month or up to $7,200.00 per year,” according to the contract released by commissioners.
In an email Monday at 9:34 a.m., Vero told Wachs, “These matters are quite serious and (county commissioners) intend to proceed with the process under Ohio law to remove you as a board member of RCMH&RS. (County administrator) Andrew Keller and myself wanted to afford you the professional courtesy of a meeting before we proceeded with the process.”
Vero asked when Wachs would be available to meet regarding the concerns. “Otherwise, we will proceed with the process to remove you,” Vero said.
In a return email at 9:49 a.m., Wachs tendered his resignation.
“Based on this information, it is clear this is a conflict of interest. I had no idea that this was the case. As a result, please accept my immediate resignation as a commissioner-appointed member from the Richland County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board. There is no need for a courtesy meeting,” Wachs said in his email response.
According to its website, Gravity Ohio is a “non-profit community arts DEI (Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion) program that provides a platform for all forms of art to promote understanding and acceptance between people of different backgrounds.”
Wachs told Richland Source he was not aware of the state law making his work on the agency board a conflict of interest with the work he does for Gravity Ohio.
“Gravity Ohio is a non-profit,” Wachs said. “At the end of the day, whatever money comes in also goes out. Money for a sponsorship goes to pay for something. It doesn’t sit in a bank account,” he said.
“I was not aware of the the law. As it turns out, as a sitting board member, I could not participate in any of that. So I resigned,” Wachs said.
He said the mental health agency has annual budgets for things such as marketing and education. He said the the board votes on marketing and educational expenses as a block during its monthly meetings, not on line-item purchases.
“Richland County Mental Health participates in all kinds of community events. There are people on that board who have been associated with those events. But because I am on one-third of the board at Gravity Ohio, I needed to recuse myself on any votes related to Gravity Ohio,” Wachs said.
Joe Trolian, the Richland County Mental Health & Recovery Services executive director and also a member of the Gravity Ohio board, said he didn’t see a conflict with Wachs’ work on the agency board.
“These are public awareness issues. We’re not donating money. We can’t donate tax dollars. We do sponsorships,” Trolian said.
“For Gravity, I purchased 25 seats so that some adolescents could attend when they had the national speaker in to talk about the high suicide rate among LGBTQIA+ adolescents. It’s not like we were writing a check to Gravity saying, ‘Here’s a donation to operate. I made that clear to him in the beginning,” Trolian said.
Trolian did say Wachs should have abstained on any votes involving Gravity Ohio.
“The commissioners can remove people from the board at will. If they are saying it’s a conflict of interest, (Wachs) should step down.”
Trolian said he emailed commissioners to ask if they had a replacement in mind. If not, the director said, he had two potential candidates in mind.
Vero admitted asking Wachs to step from from the board was an unusual step.
“As commissioners, we either sit on or appoint to 44 different boards. This is the first out of all of those appointments that we have uncovered issues pertaining to membership on those boards. Mr. Wachs’ actions certainly seem to be the rare exception as opposed to the norm,” Vero said.
Wachs said he will continue to do work for the local mental health community.
“Now that we know there is a statute that prevents it, I need to recuse myself. I will continue to do the good work I have been doing, just not as a member of the board,” he said.