Merger decision on hold

Burke leaders want time to consider impact on mental health system

Commissioners meet again March 26 with Foothills directors and reps from 3 counties

Thursday, March 15, 2007

By Marcie Young
Charlotte Observer Staff Writer

Burke County commissioners told mental health workers and clients this week that they needed more time to consider merging the county's mental health services with Catawba County.

For weeks, commissioners have considered pulling out of Foothills Area Programs, the agency that administers mental health services in Burke and three other counties.

Foothills clients and employees say they worry there will be lapses in service and that Burke County wouldn't receive equal representation if it merged with the larger Catawba County.

Responding to changes in state laws governing mental-health care, Burke County commissioners are considering ending a 38-year partnership with Foothills, an agency that also administers mental-health care in Alexander, Caldwell and McDowell counties, and joining with Catawba County's mental-health department.

In a 4-1 vote Monday, Burke commissioners decided to postpone discussion of Foothills until all representative from all four counties and the Foothills Board of Directors could discuss details of the merger.

Commissioner Jack Carroll voted against recessing the meeting.

Carroll said commissioners have spent ample time discussing the details of the merger and said he's worried that delaying the vote would not allow enough time to consider all the details of the move. The merger would become effective July 1.

While commission chairman Wayne Abele voted to recess Monday's meeting, he said Foothills is plagued with administrative problems and is beyond repair.

"I have no faith in the Foothills board and upper management," he said.

Abele said the Burke County Board of Commissioners has been looking at administrative problems at Foothills for six years.

But Democrat Ruth Ann Suttle said the board has not taken given new Foothills management the time to make changes in what was previously a flawed organization.

"I think we need to recognize that management has changed there," she said. "To me, that's contradicting yourself."

Laurie Bradshaw, whose 24-year-old son is deaf, mentally retarded and has cerebral palsy, said many clients think commissioners do not have enough information to make an informed decision and that Burke County residents would benefit most if Foothills merged as a whole.

Burke County commissioners will meet March 26 with the Foothills board of directors and with commissioners from Caldwell, Alexander and McDowell counties.

Want to Go?
The Burke County Board of Commissioners will resume its meeting about merging the county's mental health services with Catawba County at 6 p.m. on March 26. Burke County Board Room, 110 N. Green Street, Morganton. Call 828-439-4341 with questions.


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