MANSFIELD — A hearing into administrative “neglect of duty” allegations against Richland County Mental Health & Recovery Services Executive Director Joe Trolian is scheduled for Nov. 13.
That session, scheduled for 5:30 p.m., was announced after an executive session on Monday evening during a special board meeting at the agency offices on East First Street.
The board, upon a motion by board chair Susan Bemiller, also approved retaining private attorney David Smith at $210 per hour “to prepare and present the board’s case” during the hearing.
According to his online biography, the Cleveland-based attorney “focuses his practice on employment litigation, business disputes, civil rights litigation, and a wide variety of complex claims.”
The website said Smith also “advises companies and governmental agencies on employment matters and risk management.”
Board member Mike Donahue “recused” himself from the vote, citing a “conflict of interest.” He also didn’t participate during an hour-long executive session Monday evening.
The board entered the closed-door meeting to discuss the employment of a public employee.
“The executive director has properly requested a hearing before this board as an opportunity to be heard. This meeting has been called so that this board may prepare for that hearing,” Bemiller said.
Contacted after the meeting, Trolian declined comment on the board’s actions.
Trolian, who has been the agency’s executive director for 16 years, was placed on administrative leave by the board on Nov. 1.
The board appointed associate director Sherry Branham-Fonner as the interim executive director during the same meeting.
That action came after the board on Oct. 31 approved written administrative charges.
The board’s allegations against Trolian stem from claimed violations found in Ohio Revised Code 2921.42, which pertains to having an unlawful interest in a public contract, and also Ohio Administrative Code Section 102.03, which discusses ethical behavior by a public official.
Before the executive session, Branham-Fonner updated the board of staff activity since she was appointed interim director.
“We have accomplished a lot in the last four days,” she said. “We looked at security concerns and really worked hard to get things tightened up … the (agency) website, Facebook and Instagram.
“We’re pulling social media back in regards to what is out there in the public. We’re not taking anything down. We’re just wanting to make sure that everything is in-house. And so all of that has been addressed,” Branham-Fonner said.
Angela Parker, the agency’s IT director, said access changes had been made.
“We just took care of all of the outside sources that could be accessed to IT, such as remote access.
“We forwarded emails to the appropriate interim director, phones being forwarded to the appropriate lines, disengaged with other group threads that (Trolian) was a part of so that all the information flows to Sherry and she can respond in a timely manner,” Parker said.
She said Schmidt Security Pro was contacted in terms of access panels and keys to enter the building.
“Things of that nature, I feel are very well covered and established,” Parker said.
Branham-Fonner addressed staff morale at the agency since Trolian was placed on leave.
“Everybody is very grounded and has worked really hard to meet the needs of the board in relationship to everything from pulling documents to securing the network, to ensuring nothing goes undone as far as emails and meetings and such,” she said.
“Everyday practice has been very stable and I don’t think we’ve messed a beat, really,” she said.
“We’ve had quite a bit of positive feedback from different community partners all saying, ‘If you guys need anything, let us know.’
“Honestly, I think the staff has done amazing work and we are all doing well considering,” Branham-Fonner said.
Amanda Middis, the chief civil assistant in the Richland County Prosecutor’s Office, said Oct. 31 that under the terms of the board’s contract with Trolian, he has three days to respond to the administrative charges before a hearing is scheduled within 10 business days of that date.
On Monday afternoon, Trolian told Richland Source he had requested on Nov. 1 to receive all charges in writing and also requested a hearing to address those charges.
“In reference to the section of my employment contract title ‘Termination and Non-Renewal,’ the hearing must be scheduled no sooner than 7 and no less than 10 days from the date of this letter,” Trolian said in a letter to Middis.
He said he gave a copy of the letter to an investigator sent by Middis to his house Nov. 1 to pick up his agency laptop and office keys.
“Amanda told me to give it to her. I still have have not received a date for a hearing or any details regarding what alleged actions I committed to violate the identified statutes,” Trolian said Monday afternoon.
“I only know what I have read in the media,” he said.
Richland Source obtained copies of Trolian’s contract with the board and his personnel file on Monday through a public records request.
Trolian began work at the agency in August 2003 as the clinical director and became the executive director in October 2007.
He signed a new five-year contract with the board in 2022, a deal scheduled to run through June 30, 2027.
At the time it was signed, the board agreed to pay Trolian $116,984.60 annually beginning July 1, 2022. The deal has a cost-of-living increase built into the contract at a minimum of 1 percent and a maximum of 3.5 percent.
The contract does a clause that allows the board to terminate it “for just cause” with a 90-day written notice.
In the contract, “just cause” is defined in several ways, including “neglect of duty.”
The charges on Oct. 31 came one week after a RCMH&RS board member resigned when county commissioners alleged he had improperly financially benefitted from public monies spent by the agency.
The vote to place Trolian on paid leave came after a closed-door meeting with Richland County Commissioner Cliff Mears, county Administrator Andrew Keller and county human resources director Kelly Christiansen.
On the night the board placed Trolian on leave, it cited two sections of ORC 2921.42 in its allegations.
The statute says:
(A) No public official shall knowingly do any of the following:
(1) Authorize, or employ the authority or influence of the public official’s office to secure authorization of any public contract in which the public official, a member of the public official’s family, or any of the public official’s business associates has an interest;
and
(4) Have an interest in the profits or benefits of a public contract entered into by or for the use of the political subdivision or governmental agency or instrumentality with which the public official is connected;
OAC 102.03 states:
No present or former public official or employee shall, during public employment or service or for twelve months thereafter, represent a client or act in a representative capacity for any person on any matter in which the public official or employee personally participated as a public official or employee through decision, approval, disapproval, recommendation, the rendering of advice, investigation, or other substantial exercise of administrative discretion.
On Oct. 24, mental health board member Jay Wachs, then the 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.
Trolian also served as a board member for Gravity Ohio, according to documents released by the commissioners’ office.
According to Gravity Ohio Executive Director Eric Stigall, Wachs was fired from the organization Oct. 25 and Trolian resigned from the non-profit board on Oct. 26.
Commissioners said documents show payments being made by the mental health agency to the non-profit organization for a variety of services and purposes.
Wachs told Richland Source 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.
Commissioners also released a document last week 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 mental health board contract released by commissioners.
In addition to work with Wachs, there are documents showing a financial connection between the agency director and his wife.
In response to a public records request filed by Richland Source, commissioners released documents showing roughly $58,000 in mental health agency payments for products and services from The Change Companies in Carson City, Nev.
That company employed Trolian’s wife, Christy Ellis-Trolian, who has “more than 25 years of experience in mental health and addictions counseling, supervision and administration in various settings in Ohio,” according to the documents.
Among other things, Ellis-Trolian, as an employee of The Change Companies, conducted training sessions with local providers on behalf of the Richland County Mental Health agency, according to the documents provided by commissioners.