Name Chief of Mental Health Now, Leaders Say

A majority of the Board of Supervisors favors quick appointment of a new county mental-health chief instead of conducting a broad search to fill the job, as recommended by an advisory board.

Supervisors Frank Schillo, Judy Mikels and John Flynn said Friday they intend to follow Health Care Agency Director Pierre Durand’s recommendation and appoint Dr. David Gudeman as permanent mental-health chief.

That decision follows by one week a request by the county Mental Health Advisory Board that supervisors order a national search to fill the post. Supervisors Susan Lacey and Kathy Long favored such a search.

The board’s split over how to pick a new mental-health boss reflects a schism in county government over whether mental-health services should be overseen by doctors or social workers. Gudeman is a psychiatrist.

Longtime mental-health chief Stephen G. Kaplan was forced to resign in February in the wake of a disastrous attempt last year to move the Behavioral Health Department out of Durand’s control and make it part of a new Human Services Agency. Kaplan recommended the merger.

Supervisors said they may appoint Gudeman, who has served three months as interim chief, to head the 560-employee department at their next meeting June 8.

“I’m happy for the challenge,” said Gudeman, 39, who moved here in 1996 from a post as a research psychiatrist at UCLA. “I think people will be pleasantly surprised how much this administration values our social workers. . . . [This would] be the first step toward healing wounds.”

The Gudeman appointment represents the first time the Board of Supervisors has stepped in to select a health-care chief in Ventura County, Supervisor John K. Flynn said Friday.

The board will ratify the choice this time not only because of the current controversy over the failed merger and Kaplan’s resignation, but because county lawyers now say the board should have been making that selection all along.

“Pierre [Durand] should have the authority to appoint, but the county counsel just looked into it and found out that he doesn’t,” Flynn said Friday. “I’m for Gudeman. He’s independent, strong, well-educated and understands the issues.”

In the past, the decision was left to the Health Care Agency director. Durand interviewed several candidates before hiring Kaplan in 1995.

But recently, however, County Counsel James McBride said he learned state law gives such authority to the county’s elected supervisors, not county bureaucrats.

“The code says this is the way we have to do it,” McBride said. “No one looked at it before because no one really raised the issue.”

Durand made it clear in April he wanted to hire Gudeman, who had worked for Ventura County as a mental health medical director for two years.

But last week, after the Mental Health Advisory Board called for a broader search, Long said she would push for opening the selection process.

“If, as John Flynn said the other day, we are going to try to hold hands again, then we have to be very honest and open about the process,” Long said. “Nothing against Gudeman. . . . Susan Lacey feels as I do.”

Long also said Gudeman may have too little experience as a manager to head such a large department.

“He’s certainly strong clinically and professionally,” Long said. “But I think the director requires administrative skills, and I haven’t seen that on his resume.”

Mikels, Schillo and Flynn said continuing state and federal audits of the Behavioral Health Department underscore the need to stabilize management.

“Considering all of the turmoil we’ve been under, the sooner we get someone permanent the better,” Mikels said. “Recruiting is a long, drawn-out process. . . . Dr. Gudeman has shown a tremendous amount of leadership under tremendous stress. He’s involved with the families and the clients, and I think he can do an outstanding job.”

Schillo said it’s the time right for a final decision.

“I think we have the right man,” he said.

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Times staff writer Catherine Saillant contributed to this report.